Don't Feed It After Midnight
by Anguirus1955
Summary: After meeting a client in New York, Jake Morgendorffer stops by Chinatown and brings home a pet that Daria and Quinn have never seen before. It has three simple rules for caring for it. Don't expose it to sunlight. Don't get it wet. And the most important rule of all: Never, ever feed it after midnight.
1. The Gift

Don't Feed It After Midnight

A Daria/Gremlins Crossover, by Anguirus1955

Daria and Beavis and Butthead are owned by Mike Judge, Glen Eichler, and MTV.

Gremlins is owned by Joe Dante and Warner Brothers.

Chapter 01: The Gift

It was a couple weeks before Christmas, and Jake Morgendorffer had gone up to New York for a brief consulting job for a client who had begun setting up a new business on Manhattan Island. It was on his way back from the last meeting that he noticed a small shop in China Town, having decided to stop there and maybe get a souvenir or two for his family. The shop, called Wing Oddities, he noticed, didn't have a front door on the ground level, but a series of steps leading down to the real entrance.

"Hey, Mister, you looking for something interesting?" asked a young boy standing outside the shop entrance. "Uh, sure, little guy!" Jake said with enthusiasm. The young boy opened the door and led Jake inside the shop.

The shop had an air of antiquity and mystery to it, which was somewhat enhanced by the haze that floated through it. Jake coughed lightly as he looked around. Jake looked around carefully, seeing all of the little odds and ends and things that looked neat. He soon came upon the owner of the shop. He was an old Chinese man, with long white/silver hair, a fake eye, and a really old pipe that he was smoking from.

"You must be Mr. Wing, I suppose?" Jake asked. The old man nodded his head. "This is, uh, quite a place you got here," Jake said with genuine interest. The old man nodded his head again. "So, have you ever had any consulting done for anything here? Like, you know, new products or different ways of letting people know that the shop is here?" Jake asked as politely as he could. The old man stared at him. Jake gulped. He was about to ask another question, and possibly gain a potential client, when he heard the strangest sound. It was like a whistle, and it carried an interesting melody.

"Do you…hear that?" Jake asked as he craned his neck to look around. The old man almost imperceptibly raised his good eyebrow as Jake walked over to find the source of the singing. The young boy followed him over to the cage with a blanket on top of it. When Jake lifted the blanket off the front of the cage, he saw the most peculiar thing inside of it.

"Wow," Jake whispered. "What is it?" "He's a Mogwai, and he's singing," the young boy explained, "He does that sometimes." "Neat-o," Jake whispered before he walked back over to the old man. "How much does that, uh, Mogwai cost?" Jake asked him enthusiastically.

The old man furrowed his eyebrows. "Mogwai is not for sale. He is much responsibility; I cannot sell him…at _any_ price," he said. "I'll give you two hundred dollars," Jake said, bringing the cash out of his wallet to prove it. Today had been a very good day for him and his consulting skills, all things considered.

The young boy's eyes widened at Jake's offer. "I am sorry, but Mogwai is not for sale. Too much responsibility," the old man reiterated. "But Grandfather, that's two hundred dollars," the boy exclaimed. "I will not change my mind," the old man said firmly. Jake looked crestfallen as he put his money back in his wallet and began heading towards the exit as the old man turned around to give attention to a book that had fallen onto the floor.

The young boy quickly walked over Jake Morgendorffer. "Hey," he whispered, "Wait outside in the back with that money. I'll be back in a little bit." Jake raised an eyebrow but otherwise stayed quiet as he did as the boy said. An hour later, and growing a little bit restless, who knows what could have happened to his car with how long he'd been away from it, the young boy reappeared and handed him an old-looking traveling box of sorts.

Jake took the money out of his wallet and handed the two hundred dollars over to him. "Here you go," the boy said. "What about your grandfather?" Jake asked him. "Forget about him; he's crazy! Besides, we _need_ the money," the boy replied. Jake prepared to turn around, before the boy grabbed his arms.

"Oh, before you leave, there are some rules you need to know about for handling the Mogwai." Jake nodded. "These are _very important_ ," the boy stressed. "Okay, what are they?" Jake asked him. "Well, there are three main ones, and they are the most important ones. You must never, ever forget these three rules, got it?" "Three rules; never forget; got it. So what are they?"

[Cut to shot of Jake walking away as the boy's voice plays over the imagery]

"First, rule number one: Keep him away from bright lights. He _hates them_ , especially sunlight; it'll _kill_ him, literally.

Rule number two: Don't get him wet. No water for drinking or bathing. If he gets dirty, he'll be able to clean himself on his own.

Rule number three, and this is the most important one: No matter how much he begs, no matter how much he cries, never, _ever_ feed him after midnight."

"Um, when _is_ it okay to feed him? Could you be a bit more specific?" "Don't feed him between, oh say, 10:00 pm and 3:00 am, to be safe, okay?" "Okay got it. Thanks kid!"

[Voice-over sequence ends as Jake avoids stepping in a puddle and gets into his car, Mogwai in tow]

Daria Morgendorffer shut her locker as the last class of the day was over and headed for the exit of the school, her friend Jane Lane right next to her. "So, got any plans for this Christmas, or whatever you celebrate?" Jane asked her. "Aside from trying not to puke every time Upchuck tries to put mistletoe over his head and any girl who walks by him? Not much," Daria replied sardonically.

"Wanna' spend time at my place, then?" Jane asked her. "Sure, as long as my mom doesn't make a big deal out of me not spending enough time with the family. She gets like this around Christmas," Daria replied. "Or, maybe I could spend time at your place?" Jane suggested. "Sure, and subjecting you to my family's antics at Christmas would be the best present of all. God bless us, everyone," Daria said sarcastically.

"You make it sound so beautiful," Jane said in kind. "Thanks," Daria replied. "So, what are your plans for the holiday?" Daria asked her. "Oh, you know; sitting around painting, watching Sick Sad World, trying to wake Trent up slightly early, and occasionally wishing that my parents were actually home for maybe a day," Jane said with a slight sense of bitterness in her voice.

"So, let me guess, even the holidays are spent with just you and Trent?" Daria asked her. "Occasionally, Wind might stop by because of marriage problems, and Penny might drop by for a day before heading back to another country that she doesn't understand," Jane replied as they made their way to Daria's house.

"Okay then, spend time with my family for one Christmas," Daria said. "Thanks, I'll make sure I don't smell like paint," Jane said. "That would still smell better than whatever my dad will try to cook. In fact, the paint might make the meal seem slightly edible," Daria said. "Is he still trying recipes from his days in military school?" Jane asked her. "Unfortunately," Daria replied.

"Well, I definitely have to be there for this. Want me to bring Trent over?" Jane asked. "If he can stay awake long enough, sure," Daria said. Her crush on Trent had been starting to fade lately, although it was still there, just not as strong as it had been during the failed trip to Alternapalooza. She could still smell the peanut butter from that day whenever she wore that particular pair of jeans she'd worn on that trip, no matter how much they had been washed. "So, aside from the established dinner, you got anything else planned for Christmas?" Jane asked her. "Um, not really," Daria replied.

After arriving at home, Daria noticed that her dad's car was already parked in the driveway. "Huh, I thought he wouldn't be back until later tonight or sometime tomorrow," Daria said. "Who, your dad? Why, was he on a trip?" Jane asked her. "Yeah, he had a client up in New York," Daria answered.

After entering the house, Daria and Jane both noticed that Jake Morgendorffer was being unusually giddy. "Oh, hi girls!" he called as soon as he had spotted them. "Daria, do you know when Quinn will be home?" Jake asked her. "Well, she's probably over at one of her friends' houses right now with the rest of the clothing worshippers," Daria replied.

"Worshippers? Did she join a cult!?" Jake asked urgently. "Relax, Mr. Morgendorffer, Daria's just talking about the fashion club. You know, since their lives practically revolve around clothes and makeup," Jane said. "Oh, right," Jake said with a chuckle. "Well, I was hoping that both of you would be here at the same time so that I could show you what I brought back from my trip," he said.

Daria knew from past experiences that this would probably be something neither she nor her sister would actually care about, although she knew her father had the best of intentions whenever he did something like this. "You could just pretend that Quinn's here but is just ignoring us, so it would be the same either way," Daria offered.

"Well, I guess I was hoping that Helen would be here too, but she's at the office, isn't she?" Jake asked. "She has a busy schedule this week," Daria said, having heard many of her mother's conversations on the phone with her boss. "Well, I don't know how long this can wait, maybe another day at the most, but I can't keep the little guy holed up forever," Jake said.

"Little…guy?" Daria asked her father curiously. "Yeah, I-wait, it's supposed to be a surprise," Jake said as he looked over at the windows, seeing the daylight outside. "Well, I guess it's best if we _do_ wait until after dark," he said. "Okay, I am _officially_ curious," Jane said.

"Um, Jane, if you'd like to stay and see what I brought back, you're more than welcome to, although, do you have a ride back home?" Jake asked. "I'll just call Trent and he'll pick me up. He's usually awake by the time the sun sets anyway, even in the winter," Jane replied. She was about to say more when she heard what sounded like singing or whistling.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Jane asked. "Oh, that? Well, that, oh, part of the surprise," Jake said nervously, still glancing at the light coming in from the windows, even if it was a cloudy day outside. _Sunlight will **kill** him_ , he remembered the boy saying. "Okay, how about this: we'll wait an hour for Quinn, or at least for the sun to set, and then I'll show you what I brought back with me," Jake said. "Okay, Dad," Daria said. The strange singing had caught her attention as well, but she could hold her curiosity until Quinn arrived.

An hour later, Quinn did indeed arrive home, muttering curses about the cold weather affecting her hair, despite having a cap on.

"Quinn, Honey, I've got something really cool to show you!" Jake said from his seat at the kitchen table. "Not another lame doll or outdated fashion accessory," Quinn muttered under breath as she made her way over to the couch. "Just stay right there, I'll bring it right over. Hey, Daria," Jake called upstairs, "Your sister's home!"

There was no response, as Daria's usual tone of voice didn't carry very well through wall and carpeting. However, the sounds of footsteps soon became apparent as Daria, Jane in two, made her way downstairs to the living room where Quinn was sitting.

Quinn looked over at her sister and Jane. "Jane, what are you doing here?" Quinn asked the older girl. "You tell her, Daria," Jane insisted. "Quinn, the surprise is that Mom and Dad have adopted Jane. She's our new sister," Daria said sardonically. "What!?" Quinn exclaimed. "Relax, I'm not being adopted," Jane said after chuckling at Quinn's reaction.

"Whew," Quinn muttered. "Okay, so then what _is_ the surprise?" Quinn asked her sister and her best friend. "Well, if we knew that, it wouldn't be a surprise," Daria said genuinely, although her usual monotone voice still made her sound as though she were being sarcastic, but Quinn had grown up around this, so she could, at times, detect whether Daria was being serious or facetious. However, Daria had a very good poker face…and voice.

"Alright, here we go," Jake said enthusiastically as he walked into the living room, making sure to close all of the drapes and blinds throughout the living room and kitchen after setting a small antique-looking box down on the floor. "I wish Helen were here too, but we'll have to surprise her after she gets back from-" The front door opened and Helen walked in, a scowl marring her face as she walked upstairs.

"Hey, Helen, I've got a really cool surprise for you and the girls!" Jake hollered up the stairs. A few minutes later, Helen made her way down into the living room. "Yes, Jake?" she asked in a mildly impatient tone. "Helen, you'll want to sit down for this," Jake said excitedly. "Fine, Jake," she said before noticing how dark the room was. "Jake, why are the drapes and blindfolds closed?" Helen asked her husband. "That's part of the surprise. It's actually a necessity," Jake explained vaguely.

It was then that Helen spied the box on the living room floor. "Jake, what is that?" Helen asked him. "That's part of the surprise, Honey!" Jake replied. "Okay, the lights are dimmed, and no sunlight is getting into the house," Jake said as he made his way over to the box and carefully lifted it into the air as he sat down on the couch, before settling the box into his lap.

"Okay, which way faces forward again?" he asked himself before turning it around slowly. "Okay, everybody, ready?" he asked. "Sure, Dad," Quinn said with only mild investment in her dad's surprise. "Okay," Jake said as he undid the latches on the box and unlocked it. He slowly lifted the curved lid of the box just enough for a shadowy shape to be seen inside. Quinn, her curiosity having won her over, made her way over to the box and peered over the top, before a blur of white and brown jumped up before retreating back into the box. "Eeap!" cried Quinn as she scooched back from the box.

Slowly, two tiny, fur covered hands rose up and gripped the rim of the box. "Jake, what _is_ that?" Helen asked with concern. No dog or cat had digits like this…animal. "Just be patient," Jake said quietly. "It's okay, little fella, come on out," Jake encouraged the small creature inside the box. Soon, a furry head and face, with white fur and patches of brown covering one eye, with two long ears, rose up over the rim.

Jane and Daria both raised eyebrows at the sight of this creature, and neither could deny that they wanted to get a closer look. "What is that, Mr. Morgendorffer?" Jane asked as she and Daria moved closer to the box to look at the creature. "He's a Mogwai," Jake said. "A what?" Quinn asked him. "A Mogwai. I call him Gizmo, though. He seems the like the name," Jake said with a smile.

"Who wants to hold him?" Jakes asked. Quinn fidgeted, and Daria and Jane were both very hesitant. "He doesn't bite," Jake said. "I guess…I'll hold him," Daria offered as she slowly made her way over to the box and carefully reached inside, firmly holding the small furry animal as she carefully lifted it out of the box and into her arms. He made small squealing and cooing sounds as she brought him closer to her body.

"That…is actually pretty cool," Jane said as Daria sat down next to her. "What'd you say his name was again?" Jane asked. "Gizmo," Jake replied. "Um, dear, you said that the lights were part of the surprise, and since the… _Mogwai_ is out of the box, perhaps we can turn them back on now?" Helen suggested.

"Um, actually, Helen, there are a few rules for taking care of him that we need to go over before we do anything else," Jake said in a somewhat serious tone, at least in contrast to his joyous and enthusiastic tone from a few moments earlier. "Rules?" Quinn asked him. "Uh, yeah, there are at least three big rules that absolutely _must_ be followed," Jake said.

Daria and Jane, who was petting Gizmo's head while Daria gently rubbed his back, turned to look at Jake as he spoke. "See, there are three very important rules for Gizmo. The first rule involves bright lights. He's very sensitive to bright lights, and sunlight…well, it'll kill him," Jake said.

"If the complexion he gets from having so much fur on his face in the sun doesn't' get him first," Quinn said. "No, I mean it will _literally kill him_ ," Jake said. Everyone raised an eyebrow or two at this, especially Daria, who glanced back down at Gizmo before looking back at her father.

"The second rule is to no get him wet. Keep him away from water, so no baths or drinking water," Jake said. "What? Eeww!" Quinn said. "Like, how is he supposed to stay clean?" she asked her father. "Um, I'm not really sure. The kid at the shop said that he knows how to clean himself," Jake replied. "What happens if he gets wet?" Jane asked.

"The kid didn't say what would happen, just to make sure that it _didn't_ ," Jake replied honestly. "Okay, then what's the third rule?" Helen asked. "Ah, that one; it's really important," Jake said. "Okay, then what is it?" Quinn asked him. "Never feed him after midnight, or between the hours of ten p.m. and three a.m.," Jake said firmly. "What if he's reeeallly hungry?" Quinn asked. "Nope, not even then," Jake said in a firm manner.

Daria raised an eyebrow. Her father seemed to actually know what he was talking about for once, although the fact that the consequences of breaking the second and third rules hadn't been properly explained left her with an odd feeling of uncertainty. She looked back down at Gizmo, who Jane was once again petting as he produced a light purring sound. "Hey, can I hold him?" Quinn asked Daria.

"Uh, sure," Daria replied. "It's okay, Gizmo, Quinn doesn't bite…much," Jane said with a smirk as Daria gently placed Gizmo into Quinn's arms. "Mogwai," they heard him say. "So, can he speak?" Jane asked. "Um, he can sing," Jake said. "Like a bird?" Quinn asked. "No, more like a whistle," Jake said.

"Never mind," Quinn said with an exaggerated sigh as she gently rubbed Gizmo's forehead. "Aw, he's really cute," Quinn said. She made a few face at him, and Gizmo rolled his eyes, which made Quinn giggle. "Do you think he understands what we say?" Quinn asked. "Most of it, I guess," Jake said. "Isn't that right, Gizmo?" Jake asked the little fur-ball. Gizmo nodded his head in response.

 _This_ , Jane thought, _is going to be an **interesting** Christmas_.


	2. Rule Breakers

Chapter 02: Rule Breakers

"So, after I left last night, what all happened with Gizmo?" Jane asked Daria as they headed for their math class with Mr. Elric. "Quinn seemed to take a liking to him, and…I guess I can't really resist him either," Daria said. Just then, Jodie Landon walked past her and overheard part of the conversation. "Who can't you resist?" she asked curiously. "Um," Daria hesitated.

"Her new friend, Gizmo," Jane said. "Gizmo?" Jodie asked. "He's…our new pet. My dad bought him at some shop up in Chinatown during a business trip the other day," Daria explained, hoping to prevent any misunderstandings. The school's rumor mill was _always_ running.

"Oh, that's cool," Jodie said in a complimentary tone. "So, what kind of animal is this Gizmo anyway?" Jodie asked them. "Um, we're really not sure," Daria replied. "What does that mean?" Jodie asked her. "If you have time after school I suppose we could show you," Jane said eagerly. She had really taken an interest in the Mogwai.

Meanwhile, the Fashion Club was walking through the hallway. "So, anyway, he is just the most _adorable_ little critter I have ever seen!" Quinn exclaimed to her friends. "What exactly is a…Mogwai?" Stacey asked her. "Yeah, Quinn. I've never, like, heard of anything like this before, and I used to have… pets," Sandi said, her face briefly taking on a hint of sadness before being replaced with her usual expression.

"Well, I'm not really sure what a Mogwai is, but Gizmo is just _so_ adorable! You guys just _have_ to come over today and see him!" Quinn implored. "Well, we'd already planned to have a club meeting at your house this week anyway, so I guess there isn't a problem," Sandi said thoughtfully. "Oh, I just thought of something!" Stacey said.

"Yeah, Stacey, what is it?" Quinn asked her. "We could totally do a project on how to properly apply fashion to different pets or other animals!" Stacey said giddily. "I…guess we could," Quinn said contemplatively. "Sooo, where did your dad…buy Gizmo?" Tiffany said. Quinn had started to notice lately that Tiffany's speech patterns had started to become…slower than they were when they had first met.

"Um, he said that he found him at this little shop in Chinatown," Quinn replied. "How exactly did your dad find a "cool" pet in some dainty little no-name shop?" Sandi asked, unimpressed. "Well, if Mogwai were available in brand-name stores, then we all would have heard of them by now wouldn't we?" Quinn countered. Sandi was taken aback by Quinn's response. "I… _guess_ you have a point, _Quinn_ ," Sandi said in that tone she used whenever she had to concede an argument against her will.

Later, after school had let out, Daria and Jane had invited both Jodie _and_ Mack, Jodie's boyfriend, over to see Gizmo. Quinn, of course, had convinced the Fashion Club to come over as well. Of course, neither party was aware of the other, so when both groups arrived within mere minutes of each other, a compromise had to be made. Everyone had gathered around Quinn's bed where Gizmo sat, while Quinn had made sure that the lights weren't too bright.

She'd learnt the previous night that while bright lights didn't seem to hurt Gizmo, he was definitely sensitive to them, as a bright reflection of light from one of her hand-held mirrors had sent Gizmo falling off of her bed in a tizzy. Quinn had felt genuinely sorry and had even apologized to the Mogwai, but Gizmo had decided to stay in Daria's company for the rest of that night. Come morning, Gizmo seemed to have forgiven her, since he didn't behave in a hostile manner towards her, nor did he retreat from her when she went to pick him up either.

Right now, he seemed a bit shy, especially with so many people around him at once. "Oh, he's _so **cute!**_ " Stacey exclaimed. Sandi and Tiffany both nodded their heads in agreement with Stacey's assessment.

"Um, what did you say he was again?" Michael "Mack" Jordan Mackenzie asked Daria. "He's a Mogwai," Daria replied. "Our dad named him Gizmo, and I guess he likes the name," Daria said just before Gizmo said his name out loud. "Aaawww," went Stacey, who had become completely captivated by Gizmo. "I wish I had a Mogwai," Stacey said longingly as she gently scratched the back of Gizmo's head. He purred very softly, much like a cat.

"So, what does he eat?" Jodie asked Daria. "Um, I'm not really sure. I'm guessing he might be omnivorous, but I haven't really seen him eat very much since Dad brought him home," Daria replied. "Wait, Quinn, I thought you told us that this girl was your cousin," Sandi said. "Um, we share the same _father_ ," Quinn said sheepishly. She remembered hearing some _interesting_ revelations in the aftermath of her cousin Erin's wedding, especially in regards to Daria and Aunt Amy.

"Wait, wouldn't that make you _half-sisters_ instead of cousins?" Tiffany asked in a normal voice. "Well, considering that Dad and A-" "That really isn't important right now," Daria interrupted. "So," Jane began, trying to steer the conversation back to comfortable territory, "Just what _does_ a Mogwai eat?"

"Didn't I just say that I'm not sure?" Daria asked her friend. "Does he have set feeding times?" Jodie asked, knowing that some people kept their pets on schedules so that they could better maintain their health. "Not really, except that he's not allowed to eat between ten pm and three am," Daria answered. "Really? Why is that?" Mack asked her.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. Dad didn't really explain what happens if he does, but I don't really want to find out either. We're also not supposed to get him wet or expose him to sunlight, since that would kill him," Daria explained in her usual monotone. "Sunlight will kill him?" Mack asked incredulously. "Well, he _is_ very sensitive to light; that's why we have the lights dimmed here in Quinn's room. And with last night's little mishap, Gizmo seems to prefer my bedroom the most," Daria explained.

"What happened last night?" Jodie asked her. "Quinn tried to convert Gizmo to the shallow ideals of our modern consumerist society by introducing him to her makeup and jewelry collection. He wisely sought refuge within the padded walls of my room. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare straight-jacket small enough for him," Daria replied.

"Hold on," Jodie said, "You mentioned that you aren't supposed to get him wet. What _specifically_ does that mean?" "Really it just means no exposure to regular dihydrogen monoxide," Daria replied. "Wait, no water? Well, what about other liquids?" Mack asked her.

"I'm not really sure. He had a few sips of orange juice this morning without any ill effects, but then again, orange juice isn't exactly just water," Daria responded. "How do you clean him?" Tiffany asked her, having eavesdropped on the conversation while Stacey, Quinn and Sandi had begun trying to dress Gizmo in various fabrics. Jane had left Daria's side and was currently moving in to save the poor creature from the fashion club's clutches.

"I'm not sure. I guess he might lick himself clean, like a cat, but I honestly don't know. He doesn't seem to pick up a lot of dirt either. In fact, for a pet, he's cleaner than most of the population of Highland," Daria said. "Highland?" Jodie asked her. "It's where I lived before my family moved here to Lawndale," Daria explained. "It's in Texas," she added.

"Huh, I didn't know you were from Texas," Mack said. "I mean, you don't have an accent or anything," he added. "That seems a little biased to assume that being from Texas means that I would have an accent," Daria said in response, carrying a slight hint of offense in her otherwise monotone voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way," Mack apologized. "You're forgiven," Daria said. "As long as you don't tell Kevin or Brittany," Daria added.

"Hey, I _know_ what would happen if I told Kevin. I still wonder how he gets by in half of our classes sometimes, until I remember that corruption doesn't exist solely outside of school," Mack said, hinting at his knowledge of Principal Li's grade-fixing schemes for the school's various sports and athletic teams. Mack was one of only a very small handful of students on the football team who could maintain anything above a "C" average on their own.

"Aw, come on, let me hold him!" Daria, Mack, Jodie and Tiffany turned their attention over to the bed where Jane had rescued Gizmo from being an unwilling model for the fashion club. "Can you promise to not dress him up like one of those little pageant contestants?" Jane asked her. "Yes, I can promise! I just want to hold him; he's so cute!" Stacey exclaimed. "Okay, but be gentle," Jane said. She faintly heard Gizmo mumble something before she handed him over to Stacey, who held him very carefully.

"Aw, he's like a furry little baby," Stacey said. "I'm going to be sick," Daria said after hearing Stacey's words and her sickeningly sweet tone of voice. "Who's a cute wittle Mogwai, who's a cute wittle Mogwai?" Stacey asked in an overly cutesy manner. Gizmo rolled his eyes. "That's right, _you're_ a cute wittle Mogwai!" "Scratch that, I _am_ sick," Daria said.

Later, after the Fashion Club had left and Jodie had gone home, accompanied by Mack, Jane and Daria had spent an hour trying to get Quinn to help them get the various articles of clothing off of Gizmo. "Last time I ever expect Stacey to keep a promise," Jane grumbled as she pulled Gizmo's "dress" off. "Quinn, you aren't planning to have the Fashion Club over again tomorrow, are you?" Daria asked her. "Maybe just Stacey," Quinn said.

"I think Gizmo's been traumatized enough for one night. He may not survive another one without a few days of rest," Jane said. "Well, you guys had your friends over too," Quinn pointed out. "Jodie and Mack aren't eccentric or empty-headed," Daria said, although she wasn't entirely certain if Jodie and Mack could really be considered friends or just acquaintances who she tolerated more than most of the other people at her school.

"Hey, now that I think about it, aside from that science project with Kevin, Jodie and Mack are the first people you've invited over here other than me," Jane said. "I…find them more bearable to be around than most of the other people at school. Quinn, why are you smiling?" Daria asked her sister. "Aw, you're coming out of your shell!" Quinn said happily.

"Quinn…never say that again," Daria said. "I can't wait to tell Mom!" Quinn said. "Jane, will you please adopt me?" Daria asked. "Sorry, but I have enough siblings as it is, even when they _aren't_ home," Jane replied with a smirk. "Damn," Daria replied.

One week later, Daria answered the doorbell no less than twenty minutes after arriving home to find Stacey Rowe at the door. "Hi, Daria, is Quinn home yet?" "Let me check," Daria said before she glanced around the living room for a few seconds. "Nope, she must have already gone off to fight in the Great Spice Wars. She'll be back in a few hundred years," Daria said sardonically.

"So…Joey, Jeffy, or Jamie?" Stacey asked, referring to which of the Three J's Quinn might have gone out with that day. "I don't know, and I don't care," Daria replied. "Daria, who's at the door?" Quinn asked from the top of the stairs. "Oh look," Daria said flatly, "Quin has returned to us, alive and unharmed. Tell me, did you bring anything from meeting with the Great Harkonnen?"

"The what? Is that one of those metal bands, like Van Halen?" Stacey asked. Quinn and Daria both looked at her. "What?" Stacey asked. Daria wasn't sure if she'd heard right. One of Quinn's fellow Fashion Club members…knew the name of a rock/metal band. As if the singing fur-ball called Gizmo wasn't strange enough.

"So," Daria began, "Where's the rest of the Fashion Club?" "Oh, Sandi is stuck with her mom doing some kind of…thing; she wouldn't say much about it, and Tiffany is doing some kind of thing with her family involving a big candle or something," Quinn said. "And Gizmo is learning how to play the harmonica," Daria said. She was actually being serious, but as she used the same tone of voice that she did for everything else, Quinn and Stacey just assumed that she was being sarcastic again as they went upstairs. A minute later… "He really _is_ playing the harmonica!" Quinn yelled in surprise. "Told you so," Daria muttered as she went to grab a soda from the kitchen.

"Yeah, they've been playing with Gizmo and talking about fashion for over an hour now, and while I'm not exactly a voluntary…pet-cuddling type person, I will admit that I'm not averse to spending more time around the fur-ball. He certainly seems more intelligent than some of our classmates," Daria told Jane over the phone. Currently, Jane was at Casa Lane, as Jane and Trent's home was often called, painting a portrait in her bedroom.

"Hey, do you think Gizmo would survive being around fresh paint for a day?" Jane asked over the phone. "I'd really rather not find out," Daria said. "Eh, maybe you're right," Jane agreed. "I mean, a human such as myself can survive being around paint fumes, but a small little guy like Gizmo? I can see why you wouldn't want to bring him over here," Jane said seriously.

"Well, that and the fact that Trent might mistake him for a pillow and drool all over him," Jane added as she put a few more yellow brush strokes into her painting. She smiled. "Anyway, that dinner thing for Christmas; were you talking about a meal on Christmas _Eve_ or Christmas _Day?_ " Jane asked.

"We could do both, if you don't mind sleeping over while my parents cook what will mainly be Lasagna and, if we're lucky, green-bean casserole that _isn't_ burnt to a crisp, only slightly charred throughout," Daria said. "Mmm, burnt green beans with a hint of smoke and culinary failure; it's almost too beautiful to think about," Jane quipped.

"Well, you'll be eating it when you come over," Daria replied. "Is that a warning?" Jane asked mischievously. "No, just a contractual obligation when encroaching upon family holiday time. Any and all visiting parties must partake in the consumption of undercooked, overcooked and/or other potentially inedible foods," Daria said with the faintest hint of a smile on her face.

Meanwhile, in Quinn's room, Quinn and Stacey were busy discussing a series of winter outfits being promoted in the December issue of Waif magazine. Quinn had a glass of water on her bed post, and there were several articles of clothing lying on the floor. Gizmo was sitting near headboard of Quinn's bed, observing the two girls while he fiddled with some of old combs and non-functioning fashion accessories that Quinn had taken out of her closet.

"You know, the dark blue eyeliner probably looks good when it's snowing outside, since it would match the weather, but the magenta eyeliner probably makes you look warmer and would then make people more likely to notice you during the cold weather," Quinn said. "But does it go with that cute little parka we looked at earlier?" Stacey asked her. "Wait; was that in Waif or that Cashman's catalogue?" Quinn asked her. "I think it was in the Cashman's catalogue," Stacey answered. Quinn searched the bed for the catalogue but couldn't find it. "Where did we put it?" she asked rhetorically, before she spotted it on her bedpost.

She didn't realize that part of it was right underneath her glass of water. She reached over to grab it, pulled, and then gasped when he water came sloshing forward out of the glass as it fell onto the bed. Then she heard the high-pitched squeals and screams coming from Gizmo.

"Oh my god, what's happening to him!?" Stacey cried worriedly. "I don't know!" Quinn replied, trying to cover her ears, before she remembered the water rule. "I must've gotten him wet!" she exclaimed as she saw the wet spot on her bed right next to Gizmo, who was lying on his stomach, his back convulsing and forming multiple bumps that were pulsating. Soon, Daria entered Quinn's room after hearing the commotion.

"Quinn, what's wrong with Gizmo?" Daria asked with concern in her voice as soon as she saw the Mogwai writhing in pain on Quinn's bed. "I spilled some water on him!" Quinn admitted, terrified that Gizmo might die. Daria was busy trying to figure out what she could do to help, looking around the room for a towel or something to absorb the water, and then all three girls heard the pop sound as something shot out of Gizmo's back, rising into the air and then landing on Quinn's bed.

The object was some kind of ball, and it was covered in white and brown fur. It was pulsating…and growing. Soon, more balls of fur were launched from Gizmo's back before his screaming stopped. The three girls looked at the balls, noticing the first one already growing to a size that matched Gizmo. The fur-ball had what appeared to be a short ridge of extra fur on it as it uncurled itself to reveal that it was another Mogwai. The rest of the balls soon reached their size and uncurled as well.

Daria stared wide-eyed at this event, while Quinn was trying to get a hyperventilating Stacey under control. The newly born Mogwai all looked around the room and then up at the three girls and over at Gizmo. Daria looked at Gizmo and saw the he was now sitting upright, looking at his progeny. She also saw a look of worry and sadness on his face.

"Quinn, is Dad still home?" Daria asked her sister, not taking her eyes off of the new Mogwai. "He should be," Quinn answered. "Quinn, go get Dad. I'll stay here with Stacey and keep an eye on the Mogwai," Daria ordered her sister. "Sure," Quinn said nervously. "Stacey, I'll be right back," Quinn said as she left the room. Daria watched Quinn leave before looking back over at Stacey to see the girl staring wide-eyed at the Mogwai, confusion and other emotions displayed on her face.

"Dad?" Quinn asked as she saw him in the kitchen, trying to read a recipe book of some kind while gathering various ingredients. "Dad?" Quinn called again, louder this time to get her father's attention. "Huh? Yes, Quinn?" Jake asked after almost dropping a can of yams.

"Dad, I need to tell you something, or rather, _show you_ something," Quinn said timidly, somewhat unsure of how her father would react to finding out that she broke one of the Three Rules, even though it _was_ an accident. "Yes?" Jake asked somewhat nervously. The way his daughter was acting right now seemed odd.

"Quinn, are you okay? Do you need help with your homework?" Jake asked, knowing that Quinn _did_ sometimes act like this when she was in trouble, although the reasons for her trouble often varied wildly, ranging from spending too much money to having bad grades. "Well, it's about the Mogwai," Quinn said hesitantly. In a rare moment of clarity, Jake picked up on his youngest daughter's tone of voice. "What's wrong?" Jake asked slowly. "Um, the Mogwai, well, they, uh, _multiply_ …with water," Quinn said. Jake stared at her. "Huh?"

Daria turned her head when she heard the footsteps behind her. Jake and Quinn stood in the doorway. Jake stepped closer and looked at the Mogwai. "There are five of them," he counted out loud. "This just happened from getting Gizmo wet?" Jake asked as he turned to face the girls. "Yeah, just plain water," Quinn said. Jake noticed the glass on the bed.

"Um, how _did_ Gizmo get wet?" he asked Quinn. "I spilled my water by accident when I was trying to get one of my magazines," she admitted. "Um, I'm gonna' go call Jane," Daria said as she retreated to her room. " _Hello, you've reached the House of Lane. All of our suites include oozing walls and screams of the damned_ ," Jane said when she picked up the phone. "Jane, would you be willing to come over right now?" Daria asked her. "[I] _Um, sure, but why such short notice? Is something wrong?_ " Jane asked. "I'm not entirely sure. You'll see why when you get here. It's about Gizmo," Daria said. " _I'm on my way_ ," Jane said before hanging up.


	3. The New Batch

Chapter 03: The New Batch

"Okay, I count five new ones," Jane said as she looked at the new Mogwai on Quinn's bed. The new Mogwai had formed a small group, but had strangely excluded Gizmo from their apparent clique. Just as well, Gizmo seemed content to keep away from them anyway. When he was able to, he managed to get Daria to pick him up.

"You know, this one," Jane said, pointing at the Mogwai with the furry striped Mohawk on his head, "Looks pretty cool. I shall dub thee…Stripe," Jane said with a smile. "Stripe?" Daria asked her. "What? Mohawk is too obvious of a name," Jane said before she started wiggling her finger towards Stripe's face.

Stripe had what appeared to be a smile on his face, so Jane assumed that meant he was comfortable as her hand got closer. "Hey, there, little guy. Well, aren't you-whoa!" Jane exclaimed as Stripe shot his mouth forward when her finger was close enough. Jane had pulled her hand back just in time, preventing Stripe from biting her fingers off. Stripe produced what sounded like a combination of a growl and a chuckle, while the other Mogwai just seemed to chuckle at what had just transpired.

"Okay, I didn't expect _that_ ," Jane said warily. "Well, you shouldn't have put your hand too close to his face," Quinn said. Stacey was still speechless, although Jane nearly losing her fingers had provoked a reaction out of her. Jake entered the doorway. "Guys, Helen just got back home and-" "Honestly, Jake, just what is so important that… oh," Helen said as she spied the five new Mogwai sitting on Quinn's bed.

"Where's Gizmo?" she asked after noticing that he wasn't on the bed. "He's right here," Daria said as she turned to show Helen that Gizmo was in her arms. "Um, how did this happen?" Helen asked. "I spilt some water on Gizmo by accident," Quinn said.

"Quinn, that was one of the Three Rules, wasn't it? Not to get him wet," Helen said with uncertainty as she stepped forward to take a closer look at the Mogwai. Stripe was silently rocking himself forward and backward on the bed. The other Mogwai all looked very similar to Gizmo, although the patterns of their brown spots varied from one to another. Stripe was the only one with any truly notable traits.

Stripe looked up at Helen, the matriarch of the Morgendorffer house, with an amused look and what could have been called a smirk on his face. Helen could have sworn that he was sneering at her with the smug expression on his face. "Do any of them have names?" Helen asked. "The one with the Mohawk is called Stripe," Jane replied. "We haven't named any of the others yet."

Helen tentatively began to reach her hand forward. "I wouldn't do that, Mrs. Morgendorffer," Jane cautioned, "Stripe isn't like Gizmo. He's… devious." "What do you mean?" Helen asked Jane. "He almost took my fingers off when I tried to pet him a few minutes ago," Jane answered.

"Gizmo's never done that, has he?" Helen asked. "No. Gizmo's rather docile," Daria said, having spent much of her nights alone that week interacting with Gizmo. He'd occasionally watch Sick Sad World with her and Jane whenever Jane had come over, and he'd allowed both girls to pet him, so long as they weren't too rough with him. Not once had Gizmo displayed any truly aggressive tendencies.

Then again, Daria noted, Gizmo seemed quite old, so perhaps the behavior displayed by Stripe was typical of newborn Mogwai, and Gizmo had simply grown out of it over time. Although, she'd noticed Gizmo's reaction to his offspring, and wondered why he would seem so distant from them.

"Maybe…this is how newborn Mogwai just are?" Stacey suggested, as she too had noticed that Gizmo seemed rather old when compared to the new ones. "Gizmo _does_ seem to be more mature," Helen concurred. Still, something about the new ones, or at least Stripe, didn't sit well with her. Something just seemed… off.

Later that night, after Stacey and Jane had both gone home, Daria sat at her computer, with Gizmo sitting on her bed. She glanced over at the Mogwai before returning her attention to her computer. She was just finishing the third chapter of her newest Melody Powers story. Briefly, she wondered if Gizmo, or any other Mogwai, knew how to read.

"Hey, Gizmo, do you know how to read?" Daria asked as she turned in her chair to look at the Mogwai sitting on her bed, his attention on the TV showing an episode of Sick Sad World. Gizmo looked at her and titled his head questioningly. "Nevermind," Daria said as she returned to typing her story.

Gizmo briefly turned his head to look at the door to Daria's room. He had a troubled expression on his face before he returned his attention to the TV. Every few minutes, he would still glance in that direction again, and Daria picked up on this after a while. Gizmo seemed worried about something; that much Daria knew. The question, of course, was the cause of his worries.

The most logical source would be the new Mogwai, as Gizmo's behavior after their…births, had been somewhat mellow. Quinn had managed to get a large box to put the Mogwai in on the floor next to her bed. After gathering the other Mogwai into the box without much trouble, Daria had attempted to place Gizmo in the box as well. He refused to enter the box with his offspring, and Daria had quickly noticed a pleading look on his face.

Clearly, the elder Mogwai didn't trust the young ones, and given Stripe's aggressive attitude, Gizmo had enough reason to stay away. So, Daria had decided that Gizmo would be staying in her room that night. It was still curious, though, that Gizmo would be so despondent over the arrival of the new Mogwai. Was he perhaps afraid that he wouldn't receive any love or attention anymore? Or perhaps, as a possibly jaded elder, he simply feared the youth.

Eventually, Daria noticed how late it was and saved her work before shutting off her computer and preparing for bed. Gizmo crawled over to a corner of the bed and tried to get between a pillow and the covers. After Daria had returned from the bathroom and had slipped into her pajamas, she pulled the covers over herself and Gizmo. "Goodnight, Gizmo," she said tiredly before she drifted off into slumber land.

Two Days later…

"So," Jane began quietly as she and Daria listened to Mr. DeMartino give a lecture on World War II, "If breaking Rule Number Two causes them to multiply, then what happens when you break Rule Number Three?" "I don't want to find out just yet," Daria replied quietly before returning to listening to Mr. DeMartino's lecture.

"And because they had gotten separated from the rest of the attack force, they were able to survive the first battle before eventually coming upon the Japanese carriers by COMPLETE ACCIDENT! The Japanese naval carriers had already unleashed most of their planes, as were unable to PROPERLY defend themselves against the American bombers."

"Now, what were the names of the four Japanese naval carriers sunk by the American forces in the Battle of Midway?" DeMartino asked. Not seeing any hands being raised, he chose Kevin Thompson to answer. "Kevin, could YOU tell me the names of the FOUR Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk during the decisive Battle of Midway?"

"Um…Tami, Sara, Bethany, and, uh…Helen?" Kevin answered questioningly. "No, Kevin," Mr. DeMartino said dangerously, "Those are NOT the names of SHIPS!" Daria raised her hand to answer. "Please, Miss Morgendorffer, TELL me that you have been PAYING ATTENTION is CLASS!" "The four ships sunk by the American forces were the Soryu, Akagi, Kogari, and Nagato," Daria answered.

"That is MOSTLY correct, HOWEVER, there was NO KOGARI, and the NAGATO, while PRESENT, did NOT PARTAKE in any COMBAT. The two that you MISSED were the KAGA and the HIRYU," Mr. DeMartino said. Daria felt slightly embarrassed by her slipup. "STILL, you at least indicated that you were PAYING ATTENTION to the LESSON, unlike SOME PEOPLE!" Mr. DeMartino exclaimed while shifting his gaze towards Kevin.

"Um…thank you?" Daria replied. "Alright, I want everyone to study for our upcoming quiz on the Battle of Midway at the end of this week," DeMartino said as he looked at the clock. The bell soon rang, and class was let out.

"Daria," Mr. DeMartino said, causing her and Jane to halt as they made for the exit, "I'm rather surprised that you made such a mistake as you did earlier. "I got the names mixed up," Daria said. "Very well, but you _did study_ the material, correct?" he asked her, his voice much calmer than before.

"Yes. I've just been…a bit preoccupied this week," Daria replied. Mr. DeMartino was one of the few teachers in this school who Daria had some amount of respect, and even sympathy for, as the man was clearly disillusioned with his job. "There have been some…strange things happening around town lately," Daria said. "You're one of my best STUDENTS, Miss Morgendorffer. I pray that today is NOT indicative of Kevin's STUPIDITY being CONTAGIOUS and spreading to the SMART students such as yourself." "Mmm… maybe," Daria said with a small smirk.

"Ugh, and to think I was going to surprise the class today or tomorrow and tell everyone about the weird and unexplained phenomena that happened in World War II, like those pilots who blamed meCHANICAL PROBlems on GREMLINS!" he said. "Grown adults as STUPID and GULLIBLE as Kevin THOMPSON!" he growled. "Um, [i]gremlins[/i]?" Jane asked him. "Yeah," DeMartino said, "small, mischievous little bastards who would mess with machinery. They would crawl inside of CLOCKS and radios and vehicle ENGINES, and screw 'em up real good, sometimes FIXING broken stuff by ACCIDENT."

"Maybe we should put a gremlin inside Kevin's head and see if it fixes [i]him[/i] by accident," Jane suggested humorously. "Say, Mr. DeMartino," Daria began, "Do these…gremlins, actually have any evidence to support their existence, or are they just superstitious nonsense that people made up to avoid admitting that they were using faulty equipment?"

"Not really. I mean, most of these incidents were alleged to have happened during the Pacific Front, particularly when Allied Forces made their way over to China during the occupation by the Japanese," Mr. DeMartino said. "It's mostly just a load of bull anyway. Don't forget, study for the test," he said as Jane and Daria left the room and headed to their next class. "Wait, I thought he said we were having a [i]quiz[/i]," Jane commented.

"Hey, Daria," Jodie said as she saw Daria and Jane in the hallway, "I've been wondering, um, what's going on with…Gizmo, lately?" [i]Great, someone else who has fallen under Gizmo's cuteness spell[/i], Daria thought to herself. "Well, do you remember those three rules that we told you about when you were over last week?" Daria asked Jodie.

"I think so," Jodie replied. "They were no sunlight, no water, and no eating after midnight, right?" she replied. "That's correct. Guess which rule Quinn broke two days ago," Daria said in response. "What happened?" Jodie asked her. "Wait, you still have to guess before we say anything," Jane said. "Um… she fed him after midnight?" Jodie said.

"No, she spilt water on him," Daria replied. "What did it do to him?" she asked them. "Well, apparently Rule Number Two is a form of population control," Daria replied. "What do you mean?" Jodie asked her. "Mogwai multiply when exposed to water," Daria answered. "They… multiply? As in reproduce?" Jodie responded. "Yep, a strange form of parthenogenesis if there ever was one," Daria said.

Meanwhile, in the girl's bathroom, the fashion club was having an impromptu meeting.

"And the one with the Mohawk is scary!" Stacey said. "Yeah," Quinn conceded, "He's…mean. He isn't like Gizmo." "So, basically, water makes them multiply. You know, you could, like make more Mogwai and sell them to people!" Sandi said, the gears in her mind turning, while completely ignoring Quinn and Stacey's observations on the behavior of the new Mogwai. "We could like, have an adoption thing for the Mogwai and make a lot of money from it, so that we can, like, show that we care about giving animals a good home," she said. "Thaaat is such a greeaaat ideeaa, Saaanndiii," Tiffany said.

Meanwhile, up on the rooftop, despite the frigid temperature, Kevin and Brittany were making out, and could hear the voices of the fashion club from an air vent. "Kevvy, what's a Mogwai?" Brittany asked him. "Um, Mogwai, Mogwai…isn't that some movie that starred Tom Cruise?" Kevin suggested. "No, that's Jerry Maguire. I heard the word Mogwai," Brittany told him.

"Well," he began, using the few properly functioning brain cells that he had, "Since the air vent has a lot of corners and turns, maybe it distorted the words of whoever's talking." Brittany stared at Kevin as she realized that he had actually used his brain. "That…makes _some_ sense," Brittany said, but she was positive that the vent hadn't distorted anything.

"Hey!" Kevin exclaimed as small dots of white started falling around them, "It's snowing." Brittany looked around and saw the snow falling as well. "Wow, we should go tell everyone about it!" she said as she took Kevin by the hand and led him down the stairs back into the building.

"Hey," Jane said as she pointed to the window, "I think we're getting snow." Daria looked over and nodded her head in agreement. Just then, Mr. Deckard, one of the schools other Science teachers, walked into the classroom. "Um, okay, class, Miss Barch is currently in a meeting, so I'll be substituting for her this class period," he said. Mr. Deckard was one of the few non-eccentric teachers working at Lawndale High School. He had light brown hair and a mustache.

The class period went somewhat smoothly, apart from Brittany and Kevin gleefully informing everyone about the snow before Mr. Deckard ordered them to take their seats. Since Mr. Deckard never went on rants about his spouse divorcing him or men being pure scum for minutes at a time, the class was actually able to cover more material than they normally did with Miss Barch in charge.

"Okay, and that's the end of that chapter," he said. There were just two minutes to go until the bell would ring. "Now, your homework assignment for tonight is to read the next chapter and take notes. Miss Barch will probably give you a short quiz on the chapter, so make sure that you actually read it. That means you, _Kevin_ ," he said.

"Huh?" Kevin asked. "Read the assigned chapter for and take notes on it," Mr. Deckard reiterated. "Oh, okay," Kevin said with his normal smile. Mr. Deckard already knew that Kevin would probably forget about the assignment as soon as he left the room. The boy had a serious learning problem. During the previous year, Deckard and DeMartino had both petitioned Miss Li to try to get Kevin into a specialized learning-support environment, although DeMartino's short fuse and Principal Li's adamant refusal to possibly damage the reputation of the school's star football player had all but ensured that the meeting ended disastrously.

"Hey, Daria, I had Deckard in my freshman year as a science teacher, and I heard that he used to work as a veterinarian at one of the local animal clinics in town," Jane said quietly. She had almost forgotten about Deckard's existence before today. "What are you getting at, jane?" Daria asked her friend. "Maybe we could show him the Mogwai and find out if he might know anything useful about them," she suggested.

"I doubt that he's ever encountered a Mogwai before," Daria retorted. "It wouldn't hurt to ask, and besides, he's one of the _sane_ teachers, or at least he was when I had him last year," Jane countered with a grin. "Fine," Daria complied.

Once the bell rang, Daria and Jane approached Mr. Deckard. "Yes, what can I do for you?" he asked them. "Uh, hey Mister Deckard, um I heard during my freshman year that you used to work at one of the animal shelters or clinics in town. Is that true?" Jane asked him. "I did used to be a veterinarian, although the veterinarian clinic I worked for was shut down," he replied.

"Why was it shut down?" Daria asked him suspiciously. "One of the interns there mixed up a flea and tick shot with a vial of rabies being held in storage for vaccine-making purposes," he answered solemnly.

"How does someone mix up a vial of rabies with flea and tick shots?" Jane asked him. "Don't ask me; ask the imbecile who decided that they didn't need to read the labels," he answered with a hint of anger in his voice. "Um, can we get back on topic?" Daria asked. "Oh, right," Jane said. "Um, anyway, we wanted to ask if you could look at something for us," Jane said with a grin. Deckard raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a sick animal you want me to look at?" he asked them. "Um not exactly," Daria said. "See, my dad brought back a new pet for me and my sister after a business trip to New York, and the animal he got for us is…unusual," Daria explained. "What exactly do you mean?" Deckard asked curiously. "How about we bring it to you after school today?" Jane offered.

"Today?" Daria asked her. "What? We can make it to your house and back in less than the hour that students can stay late," Jane said. "Um, with the snow falling outside, rather heavily I might add," Deckard said as he glanced over at the window before looking back at the girls, "I think it might be prudent to wait until tomorrow or the day after, in case we have a snow day, which it's looking like we might have tomorrow if the snow keeps falling the way it is."

"Um, are you sure we can't try to come back today to show it to you?" Jane asked him persistently. "If you can get back here in enough time, then yes, I'll take a look at it, but be discrete. Miss Li has been getting more paranoid around the holiday season with her security measures, and two students coming back to the school after going home will set off alarm bells in her head. Best if you leave a textbook behind that you need, so that you can have an excuse if need be," Deckard said to them. "Now, get going to your next class," he told them.

"Now, Miss Barch," Principal Angela Li said, "I think that we can both agree that these terms are…fair, yes?" "Fair my ass," Janet Barch said. "We were _supposed_ to get new textbooks with that fundraising money. What the hell did you blow it on _this time!?_ " she asked accusingly. Principal Li raised an eyebrow.

"Miss Barch, are you suggested that investing in a fingerprint scanner to ensure that only recognized person can enter the building, for the sake of protecting the students, is somehow a _waste_ of our money? With the violence that exists in our world these days, such _strong_ measures are a _necessity!_ " Principal Li replied.

"You were supposed to spend that money on new textbooks and updated curriculum material! The maps in DeMartino's classroom have been out of date since the 1980's! And the only parts of our science rooms that you have actually given up resources for are the damn fire extinguishers and eyewash stations in case of accidents!" Janet screeched.

"Well, those _are_ needed to keep the students and faculty _safe_ ," Li replied with a smile on her face. "Goddammit!" Janet Barch exclaimed. "We need updated materials for our classes! Science is constantly changing, so we need textbooks that reflect the newest and most accurate discoveries and discard the theories proven to no longer be true! We need maps that reflect the modern world and show the new nations that have developed and the ones that have disappeared," she ranted passionately.

Principal Li was actually rather impressed at Miss Barch's ability to rant about something other than her deadbeat ex-husband for once. Taking off her glasses to clean them, Li began to speak to her disgruntled employee. "Miss Barch, if you wish to complain about the alleged misuse of funds that you accuse me of committing, you really should get some evidence. And, you may want to tell Mr. O'Neil that you'll be staying late this afternoon, so your little rendezvous with him may need to be postponed until a later date," Li said before putting her glasses back on.

Janet looked at Principal Li with a mixture of shock, anger, and disgust. "I have surveillance equipment _everywhere_ , Janet, with the exception of the bathrooms and locker rooms, since you people have fought tooth and nail to prevent those areas from being properly secured," Li said smugly. "Now, don't you have a class to go teach, Miss Barch?"

"You know," Jane said as she and Daria walked through the quickly accumulating snow, "I kind of thought that this would be _more_ difficult." "Jane, please don't be so optimistic. We both know that the snowfall is going to get worse with each passing minute, and I'd rather not get stuck inside the school and be forced to eat one of our classmates or teachers to survive if we get snowed in," Daria said flatly.

School had let out at normal hours, but the heavily falling snow made it quite clear that school may not be in session the next day. Daria and Jane were determined to get Mr. Deckard to look at one of the Mogwai. "Hey, Jane?" Daria asked. "Yeah?" Jane asked in reply. "What are we gonna use to transport the Mogwai?"


	4. Cute, Clever, Mischievous & Dangerous

Chapter 04: Cute, Clever, Mischievous…Dangerous

* * *

Calvin Deckard sat at his desk, grading tests from some of his earlier classes. He heard footsteps outside his door and looked up to see Jane and Daria through the door window. "Come on in," he said. Daria and Jane entered the classroom swiftly, with Daria holding a big shoebox in her hands. "Is the… animal in there?" Deckard asked her.

Daria nodded her head. "Alright, set it down over at one of the lab tables," Deckard said, pointing at the lab tables as he stood up. He had made it half-way to the tables when he heard loud voices coming from the hallway. He could recognize them s belonging to Janet Barch and Timothy O'Neil as they drew closer.

Eventually, the two teachers entered Deckard's classroom. "Janet, it isn't as though Miss Li wants you to quit, she just…has a skewered view of how to manage funds," O'Neil said to her in an attempt to be rational. "Um, can I help you, Miss Barch?" Deckard asked as Janet walked closer to him.

"Listen up, Jerk; Principal Li is trying to cut funding for all of the non-athletic classes again, which means that we have to consolidate our supplies even more!" Barch explained angrily. "Doesn't she have _enough_ security measures in the building? And what ever happened to that polygraph machine that she blew money on?" "Oh, I stole it and took it to an empty field with Timothy and DeMartino, along with some baseball bats and a shovel," Janet said with a devious smirk.

"Say, what's in that box?" O'Neil asked. "Oh, um, the girls here found a strange animal that they want me to look at," Deckard explained. "Oh, sure, go ask a _man_ to explain something new to you, not a _woman_ who _**also** happens to be a **science teacher!**_ " "Now, Janet, you were busy today, so I'm sure that, hi Daria, um, Daria and Jane here simply sought out Calvin because he _wasn't_ quite as busy," O'Neil said in an attempt to placate Barch.

"Fine," she said, still clearly annoyed. "But girls, if this man _touches_ you or does anything-" "Please, Miss Barch, I'm insulted that you'd even _think_ that of me! I put my hand on your leg by accident _once_ , just once! I had fallen onto the floor because it was wet and I didn't realize it was your leg I was grabbing. How many times must I apologize? I'm not a pedophile or an ephebophile!" Deckard protested. "Janet, he's right," Timothy O'Neil said.

"Fine, Tim," Janet said. "So, what's in the box again?" Daria and Jane looked at each other before motioning for the three adults to come over. " _This_ is what's in the box," Daria said as they looked at the Mogwai inside of it. Gizmo had been left at home, and one of his offspring had been selected instead.

"Um, what _is_ it, exactly?" Mr. O'Neil asked curiously. "It's a Mogwai," Jane said simply. "A… Mogwai?" Deckard asked curiously. "Yeah, that's what it's called," Jane replied. "Where did you find this?" Deckard asked them.

"My dad found one at a shop in Chinatown during a business trip," Daria said. "One? There are more?" Deckard asked her. "Mmhm," she replied. "Is this one male or female?" Deckard asked them. "Actually, they reproduce through what seems to be a form of parthenogenesis, or something similar, so they don't really have any defined sexes the way we do," Daria replied. "Where's the fun in that?" Miss Barch asked rhetorically.

Deckard and O'Neil glanced briefly at Barch before returning their attention to the girls and the Mogwai. "So, how do you know their method of reproduction?" Deckard asked Daria. "May I borrow a water-dropper thing?" she asked him. "Sure, but why?" "Watch," Daria replied.

Deckard handed her a small dropper and she collected a small amount of water in it before letting one drop fall onto the Mogwai. The three teachers watched in fascination as a ball of fur shot out of the Mogwai's back and landed on the table. "What the?" Deckard asked quietly as the ball of fur grew to the size of the other Mogwai and uncurled. O'Neil's eyes widened at the sight of the newly born Mogwai.

"That's amazing," O'Neil said under his breath. "Well I'll be damned," Barch said. "Cool," Deckard whispered. Jane raised an eyebrow at hearing one of her teachers say "cool," but didn't comment. Daria looked up and saw one of the security cameras in the room focused on them. "So, how long until Miss Li barges in here to confiscate the Mogwai?" Daria asked flatly.

"She's currently dealing with DeMartino and Defoe because I told them about her plans for the budget," Barch said. "Um, Daria, Jane, is it okay if I take one of these with me so I can run some tests?" Deckard asked. "Uh, sure, but there are some things you need to know first," Jane said. "Such as?" Deckard asked. "Well, Mogwai are _extremely_ sensitive to bright lights, and sunlight will literally kill them."

The three adults all raised eyebrows at this information. "Also, getting them wet causes them to multiply, as we've already demonstrated. Now, there's one very last thing to remember: don't feed them after midnight. To be safe, don't give it any food between ten p.m. and three a.m."

"What happens if they eat food in that time frame?" Deckard asked. "We don't know," Daria answered bluntly. "We're not exactly anxious to find out, either," Jane added. "Okay. I'm going to need something to transport it in. We probably won't have school tomorrow, so I don't want to leave it here alone all day," Deckard said as he searched his classroom's cabinets for some kind of container to transport the Mogwai.

At the Morgendorffer house…

"Sandi, we really shouldn't be doing this," Stacey said nervously as Sandi held her water bottle above the Mogwai. Quinn was currently in the bathroom, so Sandi had used this time to hatch her scheme. She let two drops of water fall from the bottle onto one of the Mogwai below.

"Hey guys, what's going-Sandi, what are you doing!?" Quinn cried as she saw the two balls of fur shoot up from one of the Mogwai. "Relax, _Quinn_ , I've made sure that only two of them are produced," Sandi said. "Besides, I didn't touch the one with the weird hairdo," Sandi said.

Quinn looked over at Stripe, who was watching the proceedings with interest. There was a light of some kind in his eyes, as though he were hatching a scheme of his own. A tiny, faint smile formed on his lips. Aside from Stripe, none of the other Mogwai actually seemed to be very aggressive. They mostly followed Stripe's lead, but otherwise they remained rather docile, very much like Gizmo.

 _Maybe Stripe is just the odd one out, like a runt of the litter or something_ , Quinn thought as she watched the two newest Mogwai grow. "Quinn, I'm going to take one of these Mogwai home with me, and Stacey will take on home with her," Sandi said. "Do you remember the rules I told you about?" Quinn asked her. "Well _of course_ I remember the rules!" Sandi said haughtily. "Okay, what are they?" Quinn asked. "No sunlight, water makes more of them, and no eating around midnight," Sandi said.

"Okay," Quinn said with uncertainty in her voice, "Just make sure that your brothers don't break those rules." "Oh, don't worry," Sandi said deviously, "I have a special surprise for them if they try anything." "Stacey, will you be okay taking care of a Mogwai?" Quinn asked her. "Sure! I've memorized the rules, and I convinced my parents to let me have a pet!"

"Okay. Tiffany? Tiff-oh yeah, she had to do that thing with her family after school today," Quinn said out loud. "Alright, Quinn, we will see you tomorrow, or the next day, if the roads and sidewalks aren't too bad," Sandi said as she placed her Mogwai into her backpack. Stacey followed suit. "See you later, Quinn!" Stacey called out as she followed Sandi out of Quinn's room. Quinn looked back at the Mogwai and noticed that there were only four of them.

"Hey, guys, wait!" Quinn called as she ran out of her room and caught up with her friends. "There are only four Mogwai in my room; there should be five!" "Are you implying that one of us-" Just then, the front door opened and Daria and Jane walked inside, carrying a shoebox.

"What's in the box?" Quinn asked. "One of the Mogwai. We took it over to show Mr. Deckard after school today," Jane replied. "Mr. Deckard? That boring science teacher?" Quinn asked them. "He used to be a veterinarian," Jane said. "He used to help poor injured animals?" Stacey asked in awe. "No, only the rich injured ones," Jane said. "Come on, Stacey, we need to get going while we can still see," Sandi said she and Stacey left the Morgendorffer house.

"So, what are the odds that Mr. Decker Deckard will screw up with his Mogwai?" Jane asked Daria as they walked up the stairs. Quinn, overhearing this, raced to catch up with them. "Wait, you got that one wet?" she asked. "One tiny drop of water in a controlled environment. There were no fashion magazines to harm its intellectual growth and sense of self-worth," Daria replied in her usual flat tone.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Quinn said in an annoyed tone. "You remembered to tell Mr. Deckard the rules, though, right?" she then asked her sister. "Yes, Quinn," Daria said. Quinn became unusually quiet as the three girls made their way up into Quinn's room. Daria noticed the conflicted look on Quinn's face when she returned the Mogwai to the rest of the group.

"Quinn, is there something you want to tell us?" Daria asked her pointedly. "Um, well…Sandi and Stacey have their own Mogwai now," Quinn blurted out. "Excuse me?" Daria asked. "While I was in the bathroom, Sandi dropped some water onto one of the Mogwai and made two more, which she and Stacey took home with them," Quinn explained nervously. She saw the disapproving looks on Daria and Jane's faces. "I made sure that they remembered the rules!" Quin said in a plea. "Please, Daria, I know I shouldn't have left Sandi alone with the Mogwai, but I couldn't bring her into the bathroom with me! I had to go _really badly!_ "

"You're certain that they both remembered the rules?" Daria asked her in a serious tone. "Yes, I made Sandi recite them to me before she left. She got all of them right," Quinn responded. "Okay, but we need to keep this under tighter control," Daria said. They could keep a small number of Mogwai under control and prevent any more rules from being broken, but the more Mogwai there were, the more difficult that task would become.

Later that evening, at Mr. Deckard's home…

"Okay, now, Earl, I'm going to take a sample of your blood," Calvin Deckard said calmly as he prepared a syringe and an anti-septic pad. Since it was mostly alcohol, he reasoned that it probably wouldn't cause the Mogwai to reproduce. "Alright, let me see your arm," Calvin said as he gently took hold of Earl's furry arm and carefully pierced him with the needle. The Mogwai became startled and tried to pull away. "You're okay," Calvin said. A few seconds later her pulled the syringe out and wiped the spot on Earl's arm gently with the pad.

"There, there; we all get blood tests now and then," Calvin said calmly as he put away his work kit and gave Earl a small piece of fruit. He made sure of what the time was when he did so, remembering Daria and Jane's words. _Better safe than sorry_ , he reasoned. He reached over and gently petted Earl's back. "There, now. Nothing to worry about," Calvin said as he placed Earl into a cardboard box with a towel and some newspaper.

He was about to prepare his own dinner when the phone rang. Picking it up, he heard Principal Li's voice. " _Mr. Deckard, I'm calling all teachers to inform them to the roads will not be cleared until midday tomorrow. The students will have off, but I need all teachers to come into the building in the afternoon to make preparations for the next day's classes. You won't need to arrive until noon, when the roads should be cleared up,_ " Li informed him.

"Thank you, Angela. I'll be there tomorrow around noon. Bye," Calvin said as he hung up the phone. _Well, I guess I can take Earl with me tomorrow_ , Calvin thought as he went back to his freezer to pull out a TV dinner. "Maybe the holiday season will make her feel generous and she'll raise our pay by a few cents this year… if we're _lucky_ ," he muttered to himself as he heated up his meal.

Early the following morning…

Daria was sitting down at the table reading the newspaper with her father while Helen was outside trying to clear snow off of the driveway and her car. Quinn was still sleeping, and the snow was still coming down, but very lightly compared to the previous day. "Dammit, they're still printing the stocks in that stupid tiny font," Jake grumbled.

Daria and her father continued reading the paper in silence for a few minutes until they heard a scream outside. "Helen!?" Jake asked concerned as he got out of his chair and made a dash for the front door. Daria quickly followed him. Outside, Helen was lying on her side on the driveway. "Helen!" Jake cried as he ran over to help her up. He didn't mind the cold.

"I'm okay, I just-aah!" Helen cried as she tried to stand. "My ankle!" she said, trying to take deep breaths to deal with the pain. "Don't worry, Helen," Jake said. "Come on, Daria, help me get her inside." Daria kept the door opened and let Helen put her arm around her shoulder as she helped her father carry her inside. Daria and Jake carefully brought Helen over to the couch in the living room and set her down.

"Helen, are you hurt anywhere else?" Jake asked while Daria went back to close the door. "My hip hurts a bit too, but that should go away shortly," Helen said painfully. "Helen, don't take this the wrong way, but why were you wearing heels out there instead of boots?" Jake asked her. "I was hoping that I could get right in my car and head to the office after clearing off the snow," Helen answered. "Eric called and told me that he needed my assistance on an urgent matter," she explained. "Helen, even so, you still should have put on boots or something," Jake said.

After closing the door, Daria went to the kitchen and took an ice pack out of the freezer. She brought it over and set in on Helen's ankle after taking her shoes and socks off. "Daria, could you get me my phone? I need to call the office and let them know that I won't be able to make it today," Helen said regretfully.

"And if you push yourself too hard, you'll just make your injuries worse," Daria said. "Then you'll have to stay away from the office even longer." Helen narrowed her eyes before admitting that Daria had a point. "Fine," she said with a sigh. When Daria returned with the phone, Helen made a quick call to her workplace, Vitale, Horowitz, Riordan, Schrecter, Schrecter, and Schrecter, or VHRSSS for short.

While Helen was busy calling her workplace, Daria head the tell-tale sounds of footsteps on the stairs. Turning around, she saw Quinn walking down the stairs. "Morning everyone," Quinn said with a yawn as she made her way around to the kitchen and dining area. "Mom, why are you laying on the couch like that?" Quinn asked after noticing her mother's presence.

"I had a bad fall while cleaning up the snow outside," Helen said into the phone, although Quinn hadn't noticed that she was on the phone. "Thank you, Marianne. Yes, well if I don't let my leg heal, then things will be worse later on," Helen continued. Quinn was startled at first, but after realizing that her mother hadn't even been talking to her at all, she walked over to the kitchen in a slightly dejected manner.

Daria quickly followed her sister into the kitchen, along with her father. "So… how bad was Mom's fall?" Quinn asked as she opened the refrigerator door and grabbed the carton of orange juice. "Um, she hurt her ankle, and since she landed on her side, her hip and leg might started feeling some real pain pretty soon too," Daria said.

"I knew I should have put ice-melt on the driveway as soon as I got out of bed," Jake muttered to himself as he sat down. "Dad, we all know how Mom gets when she's called into work," Daria said. "Stupid Eric Schrecter. Sometimes, I swear, Helen spends more time talking to him in a single day than she does to me! Or any of us," he added after glancing at his daughters.

After a short while, Quinn returned upstairs to her room. She quickly went over to her closet to pick out something to wear, not noticing that her alarm clock was in a slightly different position than it had been when she had left the room, or that the box for the Mogwai had been moved into a position that blocked the view of the wall socket where the clock was supposed to be plugged in. Quinn was too busy concentrating on her wardrobe to notice this.

She quickly walked over to the Mogwai box and patted one of the little fur balls on the head, making sure to keep her hand away from Stripe. She noticed him looking at her strangely, but thought nothing of it. Stripe _always_ had a strange look on his face.

"Okay, guys, I'm heading out to see Stacey and Sandi. You behave yourselves while I'm gone, alright?" Quinn said sweetly to the Mogwai. Two of them nodded their heads, while rest just looked around and chirped and made little noises. Quinn giggled at their behavior before turning around and getting dressed. A few minutes after she'd left the room, Stripe smiled and began climbing out of the box.


	5. The Trouble With Mogwai

Chapter 05: The Trouble With Mogwai

* * *

"And so the fellowship of the Mogwai has grown, has it?" Jane asked as she painted a portrait of a Mogwai. She and Daria were in her bedroom. "Yeah, but the fact remains that their numbers are growing, and we won't be able to keep things under control for much longer," Daria said with a hint of worry in her voice.

Jane stopped painting as she thought about the implications of Daria's assessment. "So, that means… eventually… we'll learn what happens when they eat after midnight," Jane said slowly.

"It's inevitable by this point. There are Mogwai that are in the hands of the irresponsible majority now, and all we can do is wait for the time bomb to go off. Let's face it, we're screwed," Daria said darkly. "Wanna' make a bet on how long it'll take?" Jane offered. "Well, maybe it won't be so bad," Jane said. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" "Jane, why would you even ask that?"

"Sorry, just the holiday spirit, I guess," Jane replied. "It's all right, given that we don't really know what will happen if they _do_ eat after midnight," Daria said. "So…wanna' go to the Zon and see if anyone's playing some bad Christmas or Hanukah themed songs?" Jane suggested.

"Mmm…not really. That would involve travelling in cold weather, and these jeans can only keep my legs warm for so long before I become a statue," Daria said. "Hmm, can I take a picture of you when that happens? You know, to use as a reference for a painting?" Jane asked.

"Meh," Daria replied. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Jane said with a smile. She continued painting in silence for a few minutes before she thought of something. "Say, Daria, what exactly do you do with Gizmo when I'm not there?" Jane asked. "Well, I'm pretty sure that I've already told you, but I guess exposure to paint fumes has damaged your memory," Daria said.

"Well then, remind me," Jane implored. "Mostly we just sit around and watch TV, or he watches the TV while I work on my Melody Powers stories. The other night, I felt a little bold and decided to see what he looked like with my glasses on him," Daria said. "Until you remembered that you're almost blind without your glasses, I assume?" Jane asked mirthfully.

"Hm, you're good. I guess I forgot that I wouldn't be able to see what he looked like since I wouldn't have my glasses on to begin with," Daria said. "Now how exactly could you forget something like _that_ in the first place?" Jane asked her. Daria sighed. "I guess I, too, fell under the influence of Gizmo's… _cuteness_ ," Daria said reluctantly.

"Well, it had to happen sometime," Jane commented. "At least it took something strange and bizarre to make me succumb to that cute animal weakness instead of something ordinary, like a rabbit or a cat," Daria said. "That's the spirit!" Jane said.

Meanwhile...

"So, how're things going with your Mogwai, Stacey?" Quinn asked Stacey as they walked over to Sandi's house together. "Well, he's very cuddly," Stacey said. "Yeah, they _all_ are…except Stripe. I've gotten used to it, though," Quinn replied.

"How do you think Sandi's been handling _her_ Mogwai?" Stacey asked Quinn. "I'm… actually not sure if I want to find out," Quinn admitted. "Why not?" Stacey asked her. "I don't know; I just… I guess still kind of angry that she went and got that one wet without even talking to me about it," Quinn explained as they drew closer to Sandi's house.

After being let inside by Sandi's mom, Linda Griffin, Stacey and Quinn found Sandi in the living room, along with her two brothers, both of whom were unusually quiet. "Hey, Sandi," Stacey said joyfully. Sandi smirked. "Hey Stacey, hey Quinn. Have you noticed how my two normally ill-behaved brothers are now as quiet as mice?" Sandi asked with a devilish smile.

"Yeah, what happened?" Quinn asked her. "Well, it turns out that my Mogwai is very talented with tape and using fashion accessories for unintended purposes," Sandi said vaguely. "Um, what exactly does that mean?" Stacey asked her. "Come around and look at their faces," Sandi offered. Quinn and Stacey took up Sandi's offer and gasped when they saw that both boys were wearing dresses and had their hands tied, along with crude symbols written on their faces in lipstick.

"They were like this in their bedroom when I got up this morning. My Mogwai had disappeared and when I went looking for him, this was what I had found," Sandi said, quite pleased. "Of course, my mom thought that _I_ was the one who did it, until I explained things to her," Sandi said.

"Wait, how did you convince your mom to let you keep the Mogwai?" Quinn asked. "Actually, _this_ was what convinced her that the Mogwai could stay here," Sandi replied. "So, does this mean that we have to do something like that if _we_ want to live with you?" Quinn asked jokingly. "Probably," Sandi said with a smile before she chuckled.

Lawndale High School...

"Okay," Calvin Deckard said as he returned to his classroom, "I'm never opening the broom closet door without knocking again." He didn't want to intrude upon Janet Barch and Timothy O'Neil in flagrante delicto again, especially since Miss Barch had exceptionally good aim when throwing supplies at people's heads.

He sat down and looked at his lesson plans for tomorrow. "Some snow day, eh, Earl?" he said while looking at the Mogwai, who was now in a large carrier cage for dogs. It was one that he'd kept from his time as a veterinarian. He was shocked that Principal Li hadn't pounced on him the moment he'd walked through the door with the cage.

Earl just glared at him. "Are you _still_ upset about that blood test?" Calvin asked before turning to look back at his lesson plans. Earl hadn't been aggressive or hostile towards him, but the Mogwai had certainly kept his distance whenever possible. "Eh, you'll get over it."

Morgendorffer household, later that evening…

Quinn was busy reading an issue of Waif magazine in her room. She was halfway through an article when the Mogwai began shouting for the third time in a row. "Yumyumyumyumyum! Yuuuum, yum yum!" they chanted and cried. "Please, will you guys shut up?" Quinn asked them, exasperated. "Okay, _fine_ ," she said while shaking her head. She looked over at her alarm clock and saw that it was only 9:15 p.m. "I guess you still have enough time. I'll be back in a few minutes," Quinn said as she got off her bed and left her room to go downstairs to the kitchen.

She scoured the fridge for food, before eventually seeing a box of fried chicken that Daria had picked up somewhere on her way back from Jane's home. _Huh, I thought for sure that it was pizza that Daria had brought home_ , Quinn thought to herself. "Sorry sis, but my ears need a rest," Quinn said as she started yawning. She grabbed the box and hurried back upstairs.

She quickly walked over and opened the box of chicken before carefully placing it inside the Mogwai box. "I know that fried chicken has, like, MSG and lots of calories and stuff, but this was the best I could find. I don't want to poison you with Dad's cooking," Quinn said as they waited for her to take her hands out before they began to dig in to the food. "Wow, you guys are _really hungry_ ," she said as she watched them devour the fried chicken. She quickly went back to reading her issue of Waif before turning off the light and going to sleep.

Meanwhile, at Mr. Deckard's home…

"Well, it's time to call it a night, Earl. Sleep well," Calvin said tiredly as he turned off the light and left the kitchen. He'd almost nodded off twice while working on a lesson plan at his kitchen table, before he'd decided to call it quits. Earl was back in his box on the floor, which was too high for him to climb out of. Unknown to Deckard, however, Earl had managed to procure a metal coat-hangar earlier that day after they had returned home. Right now, Earl was looking at a bag of snack food hanging precariously over the edge of a cabinet.

Line Break

Daria woke up the following morning after her alarm clock went off. "Six thirty is too early," she muttered to herself as she quickly got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, hoping to beat her sister to it so that she could have at least a _few_ minutes of time to herself in there. Gizmo was still back in her bedroom, sleeping soundly.

On the way back to her room, Daria stopped at the door of Quinn's room. The door was still closed. Given how much time had passed while Daria was in the bathroom, she had thought that her sister would have been awake by now. She gently knocked on the door. When there was no response, she opened the door, preparing to give her sister a rude awakening, until the she froze in her tracks at the sight before her.

Quinn was still sleeping on her bed, but all around her was something from the mind of H.R. Giger. There were five grotesque pods, all the size of a small child, arranged around the room, with at least one of them leaning on the box that the Mogwai had been kept in. Daria quickly walked over to Quinn's bed to check on her sister.

She put her hand on Quinn's shoulder and tried to shake her. "Hnng, go away," Quinn said sleepily. "Quinn, we have a problem. Wake up, _now_ ," Daria said firmly. "Alright, geez, what is your problem, Daria?" Quinn asked angrily as she glared at her sister. "Quinn, where are the Mogwai?" Daria asked her.

"What do you mean? They're right over…" The words died in Quinn's throat as she looked around her room, her eyes widening in shock. She slowly peered over the edge of her bed to look down at the empty Mogwai box. She looked back over at Daria, fear and panic written all over the redhead's face.

"Quinn, what did you do?" Daria asked her slowly. "I… I don't know!" Quinn cried. "Did you feed the after midnight?" Daria asked her. "What? No, of course not! I fed them a little after nine!" Quinn responded. Daria looked over at Quinn's alarm clock. It was one of those old-style ones with the hands. Helen had bought it for her shortly before they had moved from Highland.

" _How_ shortly after nine?" Daria asked her sister. "I think it was nine fifteen or something," Quinn said. "Quinn, is your clock set to the right time?" Daria asked her. "Of course it is," Quinn snapped in response. "Okay. Quinn, without looking at your clock, can you tell me what time it is right now?" Daria asked her.

"Well, it's still morning and we have school today, so it must be around seven or something," Quinn replied. "That's right, now look at your clock," Daria said. "Why? It'll just say that it's… no, no that _can't_ be right," Quinn said as she looked at her clock. "It can't be nine fifteen, or else we'd be late _and_ it would be lighter outside."

Quinn reached behind the clock to grab the power cord, hoping to plug it back in, only to find that, not only had it been unplugged, it had been _severed_ as well. She raised the destroyed cord up to her face and then showed it to Daria in confusion. "Daria… what's going on?" Quinn asked her sister fearfully.

Putting the pieces together, Daria came upon only one logical conclusion: the Mogwai had tricked Quinn into feeding them after midnight. "Quinn, call your friends from the fashion club and ask them if anything has happened to their Mogwai this morning," Daria said, trying to remain calm as she thought about the situation.

"Okay, but what do we tell Mom and Dad?" Quinn asked worriedly. "We can't hide this from them," Daria said. "I _know_ that, but what do we _tell them?_ " Quinn retorted. "The truth," Daria replied solemnly. "Do you think Gizmo's changed too?" Quinn asked as she grabbed the phone. "No, he was still small and furry when I got out of bed this morning," Daria said as she remembered seeing the Mogwai curled up near the corner of her bed.

"Uh oh," a small voice said. Daria and Quinn both looked over at the doorway to see Gizmo peering into the room. He had a frightened look on his face, along with a brief flicker of what Daria could only guess was recognition. _Has Gizmo been in this kind of situation before?_

Daria looked back over at her sister. "Quinn, your friends, now!" Daria almost snapped. "Right," Quinn said hastily as she prepared to dial Stacey's phone number, only for the phone to ring before she could push a button. She quickly answered it. "Hello?" Quinn asked.

" _Quinn, oh my god, Quinn, something happened to my Mogwai! Iwokeupandtherewasthis giantraisin-likethinginmybedroomrightonmyMogwai'slittlesleepingbed! It'sgrossandIdon'tknowwhattodo!_ " Stacey cried over the phone. "Stacey, slow down, I can't understand you," Quinn said, trying to hold in her own panic. " _There's this…raisin or pod **thing** on my Mogwai's bed! I don't know what happened!_ "

"Stacey, when did you last… _feed_ your Mogwai?" Quinn asked her. " _I… I fed him last night, at eight o'clock, an hour before I went to bed!_ " Stacey cried. "What time does your clock say right now?" Quinn asked her. " _It says ten after seven, why?_ " Stacey asked.

"Your clock hasn't been messed with?" Quinn asked her. " _No, I checked it this morning. It said eight after seven just before I called you!_ " Stacey cried. "Stacey, it's okay, but did you keep your Mogwai in a box that he couldn't climb out of?" Quinn asked her. " _No, he was in this little dog bed that I'd bought the day that I brought him home_ ," Stacey replied.

"And was your bedroom door closed?" Quinn asked her. " _N-No,_ " Stacey replied, just about ready to burst into tears again. "Stacey, your Mogwai must have fed himself after you went to bed," Quinn said sadly. The Mogwai in _her_ room had been kept contained, forcing them to resort to trickery, but Stacey, being the kind and trusting sweetheart that she was, had not taken any precautions to keep her Mogwai from getting his own food.

" _Quinn… did something happen to **your** Mogwai?_ " Stacey asked. "Y-Yes. This morning, I found that my clock had been tampered with, and the Mogwai had all turned into those pod things. I… I fed them after midnight by accident," Quinn admitted. " _ **All** of them?_ " Stacey asked. "All except for Gizmo," Quinn replied. " _Quinn, we have to find out if Sandi's Mogwai has changed too!_ " Stacey exclaimed over the phone.

"Who should call her; you or me?" Quinn asked. " _How about I-who left the fridge open!?_ " Quinn heard Stacey begin saying before being interrupted by her mother's shouting. " _You'll have to do it, Quinn!_ " Stacey said before hanging up. Quinn stared at the phone in her hands.

"Well?" Daria asked, having heard Quinn's end of the conversation and already gathering that Stacey's Mogwai had changed. "Stacey's Mogwai ate after midnight, but it didn't trick her. She left her bedroom door wide open and gave it a bed that it could get out of at any time," Quinn explained sadly. "Call Sandi; I'm going to wake up Mom and Dad," Daria said.

"But-" Quinn tried to protest, but Daria had already left the room, picking up Gizmo and taking him with her. "I guess talking to Sandi will at least prevent them from interrogating _me_ for a few minutes after they get over here," she said quietly to herself before dialing Sandi's phone number.

" _Hello?_ " Quinn heard Sandi respond on the other end. "Hey, Sandi, um, how's your Mogwai doing?" Quinn asked carefully. " _If I could find him, I would tell you_ ," Sandi replied. "What do you mean?" Quinn asked her. " _I, like, can't find him **anywhere** in my room_ ," Sandi explained.

"Sandi, I have some bad news," Quinn said slowly. " _Bad news? Is it related to my Mogwai?_ " Sandi asked, a hint of concern coming through in her voice near the end of her question. "Well, more like _all_ of the Mogwai," Quinn said. "You see…" Quinn was having trouble finding the right words to use. " _Quinn, just say it already, what's wrong? I need to find my Mogwai, in case my brothers have recovered from yesterday's lesson_ ," Sandi said impatiently.

"I think all of the Mogwai managed to eat after midnight!" Quinn blurted into the phone. " _What?_ " Sandi asked her. "Sandi, the Mogwai in my bedroom messed with my clock and tricked me into feeding them after midnight, and Stacey's Mogwai just found its own food after she went to bed," Quinn explained tearfully. " _Are you saying that **my** Mogwai has also eaten after midnight? That I, somehow, **broke** the rules?_ " Sandi asked her angrily.

"Sandi… just let me know when you find your Mogwai," Quinn said sadly as she hung up the phone. She sighed before looking over to see her parents standing in the doorway. Daria was behind them, holding Gizmo close to her.

"What… what happened?" Helen asked her daughter. "The Mogwai…tricked me into feeding them after midnight," Quinn said sadly. "They _tricked you_ into feeding them?" Helen asked in surprise. "They broke her alarm clock so that she couldn't tell what time it was when she fed them," Daria explained. "How did they break her alarm clock?" Helen asked her. "They unplugged it, and then somehow they managed to cut it too," Quinn said, turning around to grab the clock and place it on her bed, showing her parents the damaged cord.

Quinn's phone rang just as Helen was about to speak. Quinn quickly answered it. "Quinn, this is no time for-" Helen was silenced when Quinn held a finger in the air. "I'm sorry, Sandi," Quinn said after a minute. "No, Gizmo's the only one left," Quinn said into the phone a few seconds later. She placed the phone back into its holder after Sandi hung up.

"Quinn, Honey, what did Sandi want to talk to you about?" Helen asked. "Her Mogwai… also ate after midnight," Quinn said solemnly. "They're all… wait, Daria, didn't you give one to that science teacher to look at?" Quinn said suddenly. Daria's eyes widened, having forgotten about the Mogwai she gave to Mr. Deckard during Quinn's crisis. "I did. But I don't have his phone number, so I'll have to talk to him about it at school," Daria replied.

"So… what happens now?" Quinn asked with trepidation as she looked at the pods in her room before setting her eyes on her parents, hoping that they could tell her something. Unfortunately, no one had an answer.


	6. Trouble Hatches

Chapter 06: Trouble Hatches

* * *

"This," Mr. Deckard said as Daria and Jane stared at the grotesque pod on the lab table at the back of the room, "Is called the pupal stage." "So, it's like a furry talking caterpillar turning into a Giger-esque butterfly?" Jane asked him skeptically. Daria had called Jane as soon as she had finished getting dressed for school and told her about the Mogwai. They both agreed to arrive at the school early so that they could speak to Mr. Deckard and learn the fate of his own Mogwai, whose cocoon was now in front of them. Deckard had it sitting on a large metal pan, to keep the table clean from any mess.

"Um, yes, in a manner of speaking," Deckard said as he wrote down some fake warning signs to put onto a box that he could cover the cocoon with before class started. "Inside, he's going through changes; a _lot_ of changes, both in form and appearance," he continued. "How long will it take for this… metamorphosis to complete itself?" Jane asked him.

"Well now that, um, I honestly wouldn't know. I'd never encountered anything like a Mogwai before you guys brought one into the school. I wouldn't even dare to hazard a guess, but I _will_ be taking extensive notes on Earl's cocoon, just as I did when he was still small and furry," Deckard responded.

"Where are these notes?" Daria asked him. "I have my original notes at home, both in paper and saved on my computer. I have a few copies with me, if you'd like to borrow them, but keep in mind that they aren't finished, especially with this newest development," Deckard told her. "I'll keep that in mind," Daria said.

"So," Deckard began as he placed a large box over the cocoon, "How many Mogwai did you say have cocooned themselves?" "At least seven, not counting Earl here," Daria replied. "And the only one left is the original. What'd you say his name was?" Deckard asked. "Gizmo," Daria replied. "He's different from the majority of his offspring," she said.

"In what ways?" Deckard asked her. "He's far more docile than they were, and he seems far older as well. I don't know his exact age, though," Daria said. "Hmm, and how did your sister feed them after midnight again?" he asked her. "They damaged the power cord to her clock, so she thought that it was nine o'clock instead of midnight when she fed them," Daria replied.

"Clever, very clever," Deckard said as he glanced back over at the box covering Earl's cocoon. "If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Deckard, just _h_ _ow_ did your Mogwai manage to eat after midnight?" Jane asked him. "I found a bent up and unfolded metal coat-hangar and a bag of candy hanging from his box this morning. I'd forgotten I'd even had that candy; it was something I'd bought two months ago around Halloween because it was on sale. I should've put it away properly after I'd bought it," Deckard said in response.

"So, what exactly do we do now?" Jane asked. "For now?" Deckard said, "We wait and see what happens. It's the only thing we _can_ do." He looked over at the clock. "And you girls had better get going. Homeroom will be starting in a few minutes," Deckard said before ushering Daria and Jane into the hallway.

Morgendorffer household…

"I'm _fine_ , Jake," Helen said, irritated. "Are you sure, Honey? I don't _h_ _ave_ to go in today. I _am_ my own boss," Jake said with a smile. "Jake, go into your office and get those appointments of yours squared away. Even though you _are_ your own boss, you still have to be responsible for your work," Helen said as she slowly hobbled over to the kitchen table. Her ankle had been feeling just well enough for her to walk as long as she had a crutch with her.

"But, Helen," Jake protested. "No buts, Jake; go to work. At least one of us needs to get out of the house today, and since it can't be me, it might as well be _you_ ," Helen said with a tone of authority. "Oh, alright," Jake said reluctantly. "I'll go in to my office, but only long enough to get that paperwork finished and then I'm coming _right_ back home!" Jake practically shouted as he rushed upstairs to get his work clothes. Helen sighed as she sat down and rested her head on the table.

Meanwhile, up in Quinn's room, some of the Mogwai cocoons began to pulsate and sway before settling back down.

Back at Lawndale High School…

"So, has anyone seen that strange box in Mr. Deckard's room?" Jeffy, one of the Three J's, asked out loud as they sat down near Quinn and the Fashion Club at lunch. "Um, yeeaah, we've aaall seen it," Tiffany said. "It's just a box, though, so what makes it so special?" Sandi asked. "His ate after midnight too," Quinn whispered.

 _They all ate after midnight, like they planned it. That's why Stripe was always giving everyone those funny looks_ , Quinn thought morosely. _He was planning this whole thing from the start, just so that he could enter his pupal stage and do…whatever it is he's doing. That butterfly thing, I think Jane said as an analogy. Only I bet whatever comes out of Stripe's cocoon won't be a sweet little butterfly_.

"Uh, hey, Quinn, are you feeling okay?" Jeffy asked concerned. "Huh?" she replied. "You were kind of spacing out there," he said. "Oh," Quinn said quietly. "I'm just… not feeling that great right now," she said. "Do you need some medicine?" Jeffy asked her. "I could get you some Pepto-Bismol!" Jamie White said. "I could get you some cold pills!" Joey exclaimed. "I could get her some pain relievers!" Jeffy snapped at the other two J's. The three of them then started arguing over who could help Quinn the best, and while this normally made Quinn a little bit happy, today she was too worried to care.

Meanwhile, Daria was busy reading Deckard's notes on Earl and the cocoon. "Well, there isn't much in here that didn't know already," Daria quipped as she put down the notes. "He'd only had one day to really observe the little guy before he turned into a seed pod," Jane commented.

"True," Daria conceded. "Hey guys, what's going on?" Jodie Landon asked as she approached Daria and Jane. "Well, the Mogwai have all eaten after midnight, except for Gizmo," Daria replied. "Oh. Well, what happened to them afterwards?" Jodie asked. "Apparently those midnight cravings turned them all into giant raisins. They made themselves some cocoons and now we're just waiting to see what comes out," Jane added.

Later, near the end of the school day…

During the last class of the day, Mr. Deckard was having his students watch a video via a projector connected to his laptop. Deckard leaned back against one of the lab tables while watching the video with his students.

While the video was playing, the cocoon in the back of the room began to pulsate. Soon, after a few minutes, two scaly hands protruded from it. Back in the Morgendorffer household, the other cocoons also began to hatch, with a green glow and fog emanating from inside each cocoon as scaly black and tan-striped hands and arms began pushing their way out. From the doorway of Quinn's room, Gizmo watched the sight with horror before he made his way back over to Daria's room to find a place to hide.

Back in the school, Deckard began to hear a shallow thumping sound. He dismissed it at first, but it became persistent and he began scanning the room to find the cause, eventually looking back over at the table where the box housing Earl's cocoon was located. He watched as the box began to shuffle across the table, before falling off just as the bell rang.

The students in his class began to leave their seats as the school day finished. "Um, don't forget your reading assignment for tonight, and remember to answer the questions at the end of the chapter," Deckard called out to his students as they exited the room. As soon as the last student had left, he closed the door and made his way to the back of the room, looking over the table the box had fallen from, seeing the remains of the cocoon on the floor. There was no sign of Earl.

Deckard quickly made his way back to his desk. He rummaged through one of his drawers until he found a flashlight. "Just to be safe," he said to himself. He closed the drawer and began making his way over to the back of the room. The lights were still turned off from for the video playing on his laptop, which had just finished. He slowly crept forward, scanning the room for shadows and hiding spots.

Once he arrived at the fallen box and the remnants of the cocoon, he heard the pattering of feet across the floor. He looked over to his left as the sound continued, with a desk being pushed out of the way, and a floor-level cabinet being bumped into. "Earl?" Deckard asked cautiously.

He slowly made his way to where he'd last heard the commotion of feet and objects being pushed, carefully peering over the side of a desk just as the sound took off again, with another desk being bumped into. "Come on, Earl, you can show yourself to me," Deckard said.

Given the size of the cocoon, Earl would still be small enough for him to restrain with physical force if necessary. Deckard hoped that he wouldn't have to do that, however, as he pulled a half-eaten candy bar from his breast pocket. "You, uh, want something to eat?" Deckard asked.

The pattering of feet stopped just after a chair in front of Deckard's desk had been bumped out of the way. Deckard slowly made his way over to his desk. "Earl? You hungry?" he asked. He heard a muffled sniffing sound from somewhere around his desk.

"I…I've got a candy bar with me," Deckard said quietly, but just loud enough that he hoped Earl would hear him. He heard some kind of muttering under his desk. Deckard slowly knelt down, keeping his flashlight in one hand while he held the candy bar in the other.

"Earl? Are you still angry about that blood test?" Deckard asked him. "I'll make it up to you," Deckard said promisingly. "Come on out from under there; I just want to see you," he said to the creature under his desk. "Here, see the candy bar?" he said as he slowly reached down and held the candy bar in front of the space under the desk.

"I know you must be hungry," Deckard said as he inched forward. The candy bar was soon under the desk. "Ooh, yum yum," Deckard heard Earl say in a raspy voice. He then heard the sound of munching as Earl ate the candy bar out of his hand. "There, now don't you feel better?" Deckard asked, before he felt something biting into his hand. "Gyaarrgg," he cried in pain as he tried to pull his hand out. "Hee-hee-he-hee-hee!" Earl rasped out gleefully.

Line Break

"So, do you think Deckard's taken his cocoon home with him yet?" Jane asked Daria as they made their way through the halls of the school towards Deckard's classroom. "I'm just going to give his notes back to him," Daria said. "If he isn't still here, then I'll just come back tomorrow morning," Daria added. " _You_ , willingly coming into school early? Will wonders never cease?" Jane commented. Daria smirked at Jane's comment.

When the girls finally arrived at Deckard's room, they saw that the lights were off and that the door was closed. "Well, I guess he's gone home," Daria said, slightly disappointed. Jane grabbed the door handle and turned it, opening the door. "Guess again," she said with a grin.

"Mr. Deckard?" Daria asked as she scanned the empty room. The projector hooked up to his laptop was still on, as was the laptop. "Where is he?" Jane asked, slightly creeped out by the silence in the room. "Mr. Deckard?" Jane asked out loud as she began walking around the room.

She saw that the box holding Earl's cocoon was missing. "I guess Ms. Li must've found out and took him to be interrogated, since most of his stuff is still here," Jane said with a sigh. As she turned around, she caught sight of something on the floor. It was part of a box.

"Jane?" Daria asked as she walked over to her friend. "Daria, look at that," Jane said, pointing at the open box and hatched cocoon on the floor, a mess of green ooze and other slime surrounding it, along with a small amount of either smoke or fog inside. "He must've left to get something to catch the guy in," Jane quipped.

Daria found herself agreeing with Jane, until she remembered that Deckard had plenty of containers and crates and boxes inside the cabinets above the lab tables. "Wait, Jane, something isn't right," Daria said as they quickly made their way back to the front of the room. When they came across a cluster of desks, they both split apart to move around them. Jane was almost at the door when she realized that she couldn't hear the sound of Daria's combat boots.

"Daria?" she asked as she turned around to see Daria staring at the floor on the other side of Deckard's desk with a shocked expression on her face. Jane quickly walked over to Daria's side to ask her what was wrong. She followed Daria's line of sight as she spoke. "Daria, what's-" she stopped talking when she saw Mr. Deckard lying on the floor, his upper torso area pulled up under the desk and his arms flailed out. There were several pencils and some needles jabbed into his rear, arranged in the shape of a smiley face.

Jane's eyes widened at the sight. She looked over at the phone on his desk. In a split second, she reached over to grab the phone, only for a scaly, clawed three-fingered hand to shoot up and scratch her hand. Jane quickly pulled back her hand and gasped at the pain. "Dammit," she muttered as she held her hand close to her.

Daria and Jane both looked with apprehension as the hand rose above the desk and grabbed at whatever was on it before pulling it back down. "Yum yum?" they heard a raspy voice say before hearing a crunching sound. "Pthewie!" they heard it exclaim as the creature spat out whatever it had chewed up. There was a scraping sound before a few loud bangs sounded, followed by a crashing noise. Daria peeked over to see that one of the air vents had been broken into by the creature.

She looked back over at Jane, still clutching her hand as blood began to drip out around her fingers. "Jane, let's get to the nurse's office, then we can figure out what to do," Daria said as she came back to her senses and dragged Jane with her out of the room.


	7. Gremlins

Chapter 07: Gremlins

* * *

At the Morgendorffer household…

Gizmo stared ahead frightened as Stripe, sporting a sadistic grin, grabbed him from under Daria's bed and dragged him out. "Hehe, Gizmo _caca_ ," Stripe growled with malevolent intent in his red eyes as he looked his "father" in the face. Gizmo started to shake in fear, and Stripe only chuckled at the Mogwai's discomfort.

Back at Lawndale High School…

"Okay, here are some bandages, but where the hell is the gauze?" Daria asked as she rummaged through a first aid kit while Jane leaned against a counter. "Hey, do you think I should use my blood in one of my paintings? If it hasn't dried yet, I mean?" Jane asked, hiding her fear and panic under a mask of humor.

One of their teachers was dead, and a small monster was on the loose. "Okay," Daria said as she found the gauze. "Alright, Jane, give me your hand," Daria requested. "Aw, I didn't know you felt that way about me," Jane joked with a smile. "Just give me your hand," Daria said as she put disinfectant onto the gashes in Jane's hand. Jane hissed before Daria began applying the Band-Aids onto Jane's hand.

"Adhesive medical strips my ass," Daria muttered as they struggled to stay in place before she wrapped the gauze around Jane's hand. "Where is everybody?" Jane wondered, having noticed that, aside from one janitor, there were almost no other people in the building other than her and Daria. Granted, Principal Li was probably still in her office.

"Okay, first thing we do is call home and tell your mom that the… Mogwai—if we can still call them that—have hatched. Then we go back home," Jane said. "The one that… killed… Mr. Deckard should still be in the building. You know how secure this place is; it's more like a prison than a school anyway," Jane finished.

She and Daria were both still in a state of shock over Mr. Deckard's death. While the death of Tommy Sherman the other year had been unsettling to them both in different ways, Mr. Deckard's death was different. _His_ death hadn't been an accident like Tommy Sherman's; his was murder, or homicide. The objects jabbed into his rear only made it worse, as it implied that Earl had killed Deckard for sadistic pleasure, rather than self-defense as they might suspect a cornered animal of doing.

The fact that there was an intelligent creature willing to kill for fun trapped in the building with them was enough to keep both girls on edge. "Okay, now, where do we get a phone? I'm not going back into Deckard's room," Jane said. "Neither am I," Daria agreed. Jane leaned against one of the cabinets near her head, one the one next to her burst open as Earl screeched at them and dove onto the floor, busting through the grates of the office door and running into the hallway.

Daria and Jane both struggled to catch their breath as they heard the sounds of the creature fading as it got further away. "Okay, phone home, now!" Jane said firmly as the two girls exited the infirmary and returned to the reception area of the nurse's office. Daria quickly grabbed the phone and began dialing her home's phone number.

Morgendorffer house…

Helen Morgendorffer turned off the TV as she got up and grabbed her crutch before making her way over to the kitchen for a snack. She was wearing sweatpants and a blue T-shirt. She had just opened the fridge when the house phone rang, disrupting her search for food. "Hello, Morgendorffer residence," Helen said into the phone as she lifted it out of its holder.

" _Mom, they've hatched. The Mogwai have hatched. Get out of the house or get something to defend your_ -" The line went dead. Meanwhile, near the box with the phone line, a gremlin had ripped the wires, muttering, "Phone home caca."

"Daria?" Helen asked urgently. "Daria!? Daria!?" Helen practically shouted into the phone before reaching for her cell phone, only to realize that she'd left it upstairs. "Dammit," she muttered as she hung up the phone. _They've hatched. Get out of the house_ , she remembered Daria saying in a panicked voice. Daria rarely ever expressed panic in an obvious manner, and that alone told Helen of the severity of the situation. She looked over at the knife holder in the kitchen and made her way over to it. She began selecting her method of defense, not noticing a small pair of red eyes watching her from near the stairs.

Lawndale High School…

"Daria, what's wrong?" Jane asked her. "The line's dead," Daria said quietly and fearfully. "What? Doesn't your mother have a cellphone?" Jane asked her. "Yeah, she does." "Then try calling her on that," Jane urged her. Daria quickly dialed the number for her mother's cell phone. "Well?" Jane asked. "Nothing. No sound or anything. It's like it isn't even turned on, but mom _always_ has it turned on. We need to just get home as soon as possible. Come on, Jane!" Daria said forcefully as she and Jane ran out of the nurse's office and made their way to the front doors of the school as fast as possible.

Back at the Morgendorffer house…

Helen Morgendorffer slowly made her way over to the stair case, brandishing a knife in one hand and using her crutch in the other. She slowly made her way up the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. When she arrived at the top of the stairs, she looked over into the hallway. Quinn and Daria's bedroom doors were both ajar, while her bedroom door was only slightly opened, with just the locking mechanism resting on the outside of the frame. Helen quickly decided to make her way into her own bedroom first, to get her cell-phone.

She quietly opened her bedroom door and closed it behind her as she began looking for her cell-phone. She found it lying on her bed, which was _not_ where she had left it that morning. She held it in her hand and flipped it over, taking the battery cover off to see that the battery had been removed. "Oh shit," Helen cursed under her breath.

She looked back over to her door as she heard the sound of small footsteps across the floor outside in the hallway, along with some short mutterings and chortles. She carefully made her way over to the door, silently counting to ten before opening it. Helen looked into the hallway to see that the coast was clear.

She quietly made her way past the bathroom and over to Quinn's room. She paused just outside the door, peeking in through the space between the door and the frame to see the hatched cocoons and the green mucus and slime covering the floor. Her eyes widened as she realized that none of the hatched Mogwai were in the room. There was no way to contain them.

She then made her way over to Daria's room, constantly glancing between doors in the hallway as she crept silently forward. When she opened the door, she looked around. Gizmo spent most of his time in Daria's room, but he wasn't in there now. She knelt down and looked under the bed, seeing nothing. Hearing a muffled whimper, Helen turned around to see Gizmo duct-taped to the wall up near the ceiling.

He had makeup all over him with crude symbols drawn on his body. Helen carefully removed the tape and gently laid Gizmo on the bed, the makeup coming off his fur and rubbing onto her skin as soon as she rubbed over it. There were now makeup stains on both her hands and Daria's bed. "Gizmo," Helen said quietly, "You stay in here." She got up and walked over to the door, glancing back at Gizmo before she closed the door.

 _He'll be safe in there, at least for a little while_ , Helen reasoned as she slowly made her way back down the hall, knife in one hand and crutch in the other. She was half-way to the stairs when the TV came on, the noise startling her as someone flipped through the channels. Helen paused to catch her breath as she peeked over the side of the wall to look down into the living room.

" _These Santa's aren't delivering toys; they're stealing them! Crime Wave Grinches on the next Sick Sad World!_ " There was a high-pitched laughter from something on the couch. Helen tried to look further down to see what was sitting there, and could only see a dark colored, scaly head with some tan stripes and large ears, very reminiscent of the Mogwai's ears. One of the ears twitched and the head began to turn. Helen quickly hid herself behind the wall.

She looked at the top of the stairs and slowly scanned the stairs before the wall blacked her view, forcing her to slowly scooch forward to make out the landing and the front door. Helen continued scanning what she could see of the living room before she had to move out of her safe spot to see more.

The couch appeared to be empty as was the rest of the living room. The TV was still turned on, which meant that any noise made by the creatures would be difficult to hear. Helen softly bit her lip in trepidation as she carefully made her way over to the stairs and slowly crawled down the stairs, keeping her knife ready.

Halfway down the stairs, Helen looked over the railing to glance down the short hall that led to the laundry room and the garage. Helen watched for any sign of movement, and when nothing happened, she made her way down to the landing and paused, trying to decide on which direction to go. She could go straight and check out the garage and the laundry room, or she could make her way through the living room and check the kitchen and dining area.

Helen moved straight, before carefully turning left to prop herself against the wall as she slowly slid over to peer into the kitchen. A glass cup came flying out of the kitchen and shattered when it hit the wall next to the stairs. Helen's eyes were wide with surprise as she took deep quiet breaths through her nose before carefully peering pat the wall into the kitchen.

Her eyes widened further when she saw the scaly creature sitting on the kitchen counter, eating a box of cookies that Helen had bought a week earlier. The creature had dark, blackish skin with tan stripes and splotches in various places, and it seemed scaly or leathery in appearance. Its ears were almost the same as those of the Mogwai, but without fur. It had what appeared to be a short tail of sorts, although it looked more like a nub than anything else, and its shoulders had what looked like pads on them, even though they were the same material as the rest of its body. Its arms were long while its legs were short, but not stubby.

"Grr, yum, yum," Helen heard the creature growl as it finished eating one cookie before ripping the package open to get more. Helen's eyes narrowed with anger at the sight of this creature doing whatever it pleased in _her_ kitchen, eating _her_ food, without _her_ permission, not that she would have given it any in the first place, but that was beside the point.

Helen moved herself back out of sight as soon as she saw the creature's ears twitch and it began turning its head. When it didn't see anything, the creature returned to eating. Helen peered back around and saw the creature moving to stick its head in a large blender that Helen had been using before going into the living room to watch TV. She had been trying to follow a recipe for a cake of some kind, or was it a recipe for cookies? Either way, she had given up on it and had gone back into the living room to watch TV.

She watched as the creature moved its head around as it lapped up and ate whatever Helen had been mixing in there. Helen, carefully and quickly as she could without agitating her leg and ankle, went over and turned on the blender. The creature began to scream as it was spun around and green blood and black chunks began flying out of the blender. Helen turned the blender off after she was satisfied that the creature was dead.

She was about to rest against the island in the kitchen when she saw something flying at her out of the corner of her eye. She moved just in time to have the plate smack against her shoulder and go falling to the floor. Helen looked over at the creature sitting by the stack of dried dishes next to the sink. "Haha-ha!" the creature squawked and laughed at it prepared to throw another plate.

Helen grabbed her crutch and held it in front of her as a shield while steadily holding her knife as the creature threw more plates at her, smacking, bouncing, and breaking against the crutch as she advanced forward. Soon, she was upon the creature. She raised her knife and the creature squealed in surprise as its red eyes widened in shock. "Get out of my _kitchen!_ " Helen shouted as she brought the knife down.

The creature screeched as Helen stabbed it again and again until it finally stopped. Now, its limbs were only moving slightly, although its arms and hands were gripping the knife that Helen had plunged into its abdomen.

Helen took several deep breaths as she came down from the adrenaline high that had fueled her attack. Before she could calm down completely a bag of flour smacked into her, sending white powder onto her back and neck. Helen looked turned around, wincing at a small jolt of pain in her ankle. She braced herself as she saw another gremlin sitting on the counter.

The gremlin snarled at her. Helen raised her hand, only to remember that her knife was still embedded in the creature on by the sink. The gremlin chuckled at her. She glanced around, trying to think of a plan. After seeing an appliance that might work to her advantage, Helen quickly rushed forward, ignoring the pain in her ankle as she jabbed two fingers at the gremlin's face, poking it in the eyes.

Its hands shot up over its face as Helen grabbed the gremlin and carried it over to the microwave, pushing the beast inside and closing the door. Helen quickly set the microwave to two minutes on high-heat, and watched with both awe and disgust as the gremlin quickly exploded inside the microwave. When the appliance dinged to signal the end of its cook time, Helen opened it once and then shut it again. There would be time to clean it out later.

Line Break

Daria stopped running to catch her breath as she leaned against someone's car. "Come on, Daria, we're almost there," Jane said, pointing to Daria's house in the distance. "Just-just give me a moment, please," Daria requested as she closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them. "You need to start exercising more often," Jane admonished. "When this is over, if we're alive, then I'll consider it," Daria replied, her trademark monotone almost absent from her voice.

Line Break

Helen counted the number of creatures she had killed. There had been five Mogwai, not counting Gizmo, and she had killed three so far. That left only two of them. So, where were they? Helen looked around the kitchen as she finally began to feel the pain in her ankle. "Ohh," she groaned as she opened the freezer to look for an ice-gel-pack to put on it. She quickly wrapped the straps around each other to hold it in place. After feeling the cold on her ankle, Helen grabbed two knives from the knife holder and laid them on the kitchen island as she tried to formulate a plan while scanning the living room for more gremlins.

She took the two knives, breathed deep, and slowly made her way over to the hall that led to the laundry room. She was still far enough out into the living room that one of the gremlins could enact its plan. It jumped down from the banister upstairs and landed on Helens shoulders, quickly wrapping one of Quinn's beaded necklaces and scarfs around Helen's throat.

Helen tried to dislodge the gremlin as she stumbled around, dropping one of her knives as she used her left hand to grab at the fabrics and beaded string. "Hehe-hahaha!" the gremlin laughed gleefully as Helen screamed and fell onto the floor after hurting her ankle again. "Ooh, neat," Stripe said as he watched the fight from his spot behind the TV.

Daria and Jane could see the house now as they ran faster. Daria was almost out of breath, while Jane was doing just fine. Jane stopped and waited for Daria to catch her breath as they reached the front door. "You okay, Daria?" Jane asked concerned. "Y-Yeah, I'm… fine," Daria said, clearly out of breath. Then they both heard the screaming. "Mom!" Daria exclaimed as she quickly opened the door and rushed inside, Jane following close behind her.

Daria and Jane watched the scene in front of them with fear and fascination. The gremlin was on Helen's back cackling gleefully as it pulled the strings and scarfs around Helen's throat. It even had a malicious and maniacal smile on its face. Daria quickly moved forward to grab the gremlin off of Helen's back. Helen tried to catch her breath while Daria shrieked as the gremlin knocked her glasses off of her face and clawed at her cheeks.

Daria fell back onto the couch as the gremlin smacked her face. "Four-eyes _caca!_ " it spat at her. Jane quickly grabbed the gremlin by the throat and lifted into the air before throwing it onto the floor, keeping herself on top as she choked the bastard. "Daria, get your glasses on and help me!" Jane cried as the gremlin slashed at her arms with its claws, tearing through her jacket's arms with ease. "I can't find them!" Daria cried as she carefully searched the floor.

Jane looked around and saw one of Helen's knives lying not too far away. She quickly made a gamble and took one hand away from the gremlin's throat to grab the knife. It was too far away, so she had to lean forward, giving the gremlin access to her face. It quickly scratched her cheek before she grabbed hold of the knife and raised it into the air before stabbing it into the gremlin's forehead.

Jane waited a few seconds before getting up and slumping against the wall. "I found 'em," Daria said as she slipped her glasses onto her face. She looked over at Helen and helped her pull the strings and scarfs away from her throat. Jane quickly moved over to help. "T-Thank you, Daria. Thank you, Jane," Helen said gratefully. "I think that's…almost all of them," Helen said, before everyone heard a sneezing sound. They all turned to look at the window, where Stripe was holding the drape to his face as he sneezed again. "Stripe," Jane said as she stood up. Stripe immediately broke through the window and scampered off into the night.


	8. Mega Madness Part I

Chapter 08: Mega Madness Part-I

* * *

"Are you okay, Mrs. Morgendorffer?" Jane asked Helen as she helped the older woman adjust herself in the chair. "Not, _unf_ , really. My ankle's probably swollen again, and my hip and leg feel pretty bad," Helen replied with a sardonic smile. "But we've gotta' do something about that window," she added. The cold air was coming in quite fast.

"More _importantly_ ," Daria added, "We need to find Stripe and the other gremlins," Daria said. "Gremlins?" Helen asked. "Just like those things Mr. DeMartino told us about; little creatures that cause havoc and wreck things," Daria explained. "Works for me," Jane quipped.

"Hey, Mom, where's Dad?" Daria asked. "Your father should be home soon. I'll explain to him what happened," Helen replied. Jane walked into the kitchen and rummaged around before finding a pair of flashlights. She returned to the living room and handed one to Helen. "Thanks, Jane. You two had better get going," Helen said tiredly as she looked at the mess in her house.

"Will you be all right by yourself, Mrs. Morgendorffer?" Jane asked her. "I'll be fine. You girls need to find Stripe and-wait, how many more are there?" Helen asked. "There's the one from the school, and then two others, both in Sandi and Stacey's houses," Daria said. "So, about four left," Jane said. "Oh, Daria, I just remembered; Gizmo's upstairs hiding in your room," Helen said as Daria and Jane started getting ready to leave.

"I'll go get him," Daria said as she began heading up the stairs. When she reached her room, she slowly opened the door before stepping inside. "Gizmo?" she called quietly. She looked down at the floor when she heard a rustling sound and saw Gizmo peering out from under the bed, pushing some socks out of the way. Daria reached down and picked him up carefully, noticing the duct tape and lipstick marks on her bed as she lifted him into the air.

She carefully looked around and found a book-bag to place Gizmo in. Daria quickly searched for a flashlight and a spare pack of batteries before putting them in her backpack. Daria quickly made her way back downstairs. "I'm ready," Daria said to Jane as she walked toward the front door. "Okay, let's find Stripe," Jane said in agreement as the two of them headed out the door.

Line Break

"Is the door locked?" Quinn asked in a hushed whisper. "Y-Yeah," Stacey replied, ready to begin hyperventilating again. After arriving at Stacey's house, both girls had made the horrifying discovery that the Mogwai cocoon had hatched, courtesy of the gremlin raiding Stacey's fridge. The girls had managed to trap the creature in Stacey's bedroom, but now were at a loss as to what to do.

There were clawing sounds and banging coming from the other side of the door, and Stacey began to reach her panic stage again. Quinn put both of her hands on Stacey's shoulders in order to calm the girl down. She didn't need Stacey to lose her head yet. "What _is_ that thing!?" Stacey asked, terrified. "It must be the Mogwai," Quinn said, having seen the hatched cocoon while she had been leading the gremlin into the room.

"Now I know why we aren't supposed to feed them after midnight," Stacey whispered to herself as she began to cry. Quinn rested Stacey's head on her shoulders, letting the poor girl get it all out. Hopefully, Stacey would be calm enough after this to think rationally.

Line Break

"The footprints lead there," Jane said as she shined her flashlight on the tracks leading up to the Lawndale YMCA. "You know, I never noticed that this town had a YMCA before tonight," Daria commented as the two girls and one Mogwai made their way over to the front doors of the building. The glass pane of the front right door was smashed, yet there was no alarm being sounded.

"Hmm, I half-expected to hear sirens as soon as I saw that hole in the door," Jane said as she knelt down and carefully maneuvered her arm through the hole in order to unlock the front doors from the inside. "There," she said, "I got it. Let's get inside."

The inside of the YMCA was dark and quiet as Jane, Daria and Gizmo wandered its halls. Daria made sure to keep her flashlight pointed ahead of her while searching for signs of Stripe. "I don't see him anywhere," Jane whispered as they neared the entrance to the swimming pool.

"You know, it's kind of warm in here," Jane said as she unzipped her jacket, not taking it off, but just keeping herself from overheating as they entered the pool room. "I see water, but no Stripe," Daria said quietly as she kept to the walls of the room, making sure that Gizmo stayed far away from the water.

Just then, they heard an alarm go off. Gizmo groaned as the sound affected his ears, and Jane went over to the fire alarm case. It was untouched, so she looked over and saw a power control box on the wall. Just as she was about to open it, she heard tearing sounds from inside and the alarm turned off. Jane raised an eyebrow quizzically and the box flew open, with Stripe leaping out as Jane fell to the ground.

"Jane?" Daria asked as she processed what had just happened. Stripe turned around and lashed at Jane's chest. "Ah!" Jane cried as she felt Stripes claws before he turned away, hopping over to the pool. Jane rolled over and tried to catch him, but she was too far away. Stripe leaped into the pool, holding his nose as he sank beneath the surface.

Jane quickly got to her feet and watched as the pool began to bubble, with strange lights emanating from below the surface. The water began to churn and smoke and fog began to rise as odd noises came forth. "Jane, we need to go!" Daria called as she ran over and grabbed Jane's arm, pulling her along as they ran out of the pool room and back toward the exit. They could hear the barks of laughter and vicious snarls of the gremlins back in the pool as they ran out the front doors and onto the snow-covered parking lot of the Lawndale YMCA, not once stopping as they realized just how quickly things were going downhill.

"Just great," Jane muttered as they kept running. "How are we going to handle a whole _army_ of those things!?" "We'll figure something out," Daria replied as they stopped by a tree after a few more minutes of running. "How's your chest?" Daria asked Jane as she began zipping her jacket up. "Well, having my jacket open meant that Stripe didn't damage it, so I'll survive being outside," Jane replied.

"That's good. But where do we go from here?" Daria asked worriedly. "What do we do?" "The police?" Jane suggested. Daria gave her a flat look with disbelief in her eyes. "You're kidding, right? They'll just ignore us and when they finally realize what's going on, it'll be too late," Daria said. "Well, what kind of plan do you have?" Jane asked her.

"Um…" was Daria's reply. Jane looked at Gizmo peering out of Daria's backpack. "Daria, do you think the police would do something if we at least had proof that we aren't crazy?" Jane asked her. "Like what?" Daria asked. Jane wanted to smack herself in the head. "Daria, we have Gizmo with us. _He_ will be our proof," Jane said with mild annoyance at having to point out the obvious to her friend.

"Oh," Daria said, feeling embarrassed that she had forgotten something so simple. "Come on, let's get to the police station and hope that they don't think Gizmo is a furry toy," Jane said as she began walking. Daria quickly followed her.

Line Break

"Sandi," Quinn said over the phone, "I need-could you just- _please listen to me!_ " "Grr," Quinn growled in frustration as Sandi ranted over the phone. "How was I supposed to know that they turn into monsters like this?" Quinn asked her. " _Your dad told you the rules didn't he? So, he should have known what would happen!_ " Sandi exclaimed over the phone.

"The person who sold Gizmo to him didn't explain the consequences of the second and third rules, only the first one," Quinn explained, almost exasperated. " _Well, why didn't he ask about them!?_ " Sandi asked. "I-I don't know. He should have asked, but he didn't," Quinn admitted solemnly. "[I] _Since you obviously had no part of the purchase of Gizmo, you could not have been there to ask those questions, so I will accept your answer_ ," Sandi said.

"Thank you, Sandi," Quinn said, mildly relieved that Sandi was no longer shouting at her. "But, do you have that thing contained? You know, locked in a room so that it can't escape?" Quinn asked her. " _My brothers and I have actually managed to work together for once, and yes, it is properly contained. My mother and father are currently arguing about what to do with the beast, while my brothers are planning their revenge for what it did to them before it changed_ ," Sandi replied. She was calming down.

"Your parents are home? Sandi, can you try to call my house? I can't get a connection and my mom isn't picking up her cell-phone. There are five of those things at my place, and my mom… oh my god, Mom's home alone!" Quinn blurted. " _I'll see what I can do, but we need to come up with a plan for these… creatures. I don't know if it will stay contained until sunrise tomorrow_ ," Sandi said, remembering the rule about sunlight.

"But Sandi, we don't know if sunlight will affect them after their change," Quinn replied nervously. " _Well, it had better still affect them, because I'm not having gross monster blood all over my house!_ " Sandi replied. "Sandi, please just try calling my house. I'll stay with Stacey until her parents come home," Quinn said. " _Very well. I will call you back shortly_ ," Sandi said before hanging up the phone.

Line Break

"Gremlins, eh? Little monsters," Sergeant Mooney said as he poured himself a cup of coffee while his subordinate, Deputy Brett Felder, shot a suction-cup dart at the calendar on the wall with a chuckle after gulping some beer. "Listen, if we hadn't seen them for ourselves, we would think it's crazy too," Jane said earnestly. Daria had chosen to stay quiet while holding her backpack in front of her. Gizmo was inside, keeping away from the lights.

"And uh, where exactly do they come from?" Mooney asked her skeptically. He'd dealt with a lot of crazy made-up stories in his time, especially when he worked in a different town and someone had complained about alien clowns running around one night. Lawndale was quiet, and Mooney had hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with that kind of crap here.

"Okay. Daria's father…gave her one as a present," Jane said, pointing at Daria. "A _present_ , of course," Brett commented from his chair. "So tell me, Daria, does your father always buy you vicious little monsters as gifts?" Mooney asked, shifting his attention from Jane to Daria. Daria sighed. "They don't start out that way," she said.

"Oh, of course not, otherwise you wouldn't want one," Mooney replied. "We can prove it to you," Daria said. "Could you… turn down the lights, though?" she asked. Mooney raised an eyebrow skeptically, but decided to humor the girls, at least for a little bit. "Go ahead, Brett, hit the lights," Mooney said. "Fine," Brett said, rolling his eyes.

Line Break

Anthony DeMartino sat down in his living room chair as he poured himself a shot of whiskey before turning on his television. "The holidays," he muttered to himself. "Maybe if I wish hard enough, Kevin Thompson will start paying attention in class," he said dejectedly. _Who am I kidding? That boy will never graduate, and I'll have to keep teaching him every year. Where are my cyanide pills?_

After downing his shot of whiskey, Anthony prepared himself another one, just before he heard the sound of a car door opening outside. _That's weird. Defoe isn't supposed to come by until Christmas Eve_ , he thought as he stood up from his chair. He walked over to his window and looked outside. There was no one out there, and his car was the only one in his drive way.

"Damn garage remote chooses now of all time to stop working," he muttered to himself as he walked back to his chair. That was when he heard an engine starting. He quickly got back up and ran over to his front door, opening it to see his car peeling out of the drive way. "My car!" he shouted as it kept backing up, almost hitting the curb on the other side of the street.

Anthony went back inside to find something to arm himself with after grabbing a jacket. He found a wooden baseball bat that one of his students had given to him a few years ago as a present. _Never thought I'd actually use this_ , he thought as he marched back to the door, only to hear the sound of an engine roaring. As he opened the door, he saw his car shooting toward him. "Jesus Christ!" he shouted as he dived out of the way.

The car smashed through part of the door frame and into the living room. Anthony looked up at the driver's side window to see several pairs of red eyes and black and tan-striped heads with big ears looking at him. "G-Gremlins! Real gremlins!" Anthony shouted as some of them laughed at his misfortune, before they began exiting the car. One of them made a B-line directly for the whiskey bottle and began downing it without a second thought.

"H-Hey, that's _my_ whiskey!" Anthony shouted before standing up and charging at the little monster. "Give that baaack!" he screamed, waving his baseball bat around.

Meanwhile, at the residence of Janet Barch…

"So, Timothy, have you been a good little boy this year?" Janet asked while dressed up in a Santa outfit. "Um…I have behaved better than most males," he said with a smile, knowing that Janet wanted that answer. "Very good," Janet said with a grin.

"Now, it's time for your present," Janet said as she slowly began undressing. She was halfway finished with taking her red jacket off before she and Tim heard a disturbance outside. "Oh, my," Tim said. "Dammit, sounds like carolers," Janet said as she walked out of her bedroom.

Tim soon followed her. "Um, you aren't going to _hurt_ anyone, are you?" Tim asked her worriedly. "No, I'm just going to scare them off. Unless… you want to make some music out here to drown out theirs?" Janet responded playfully. "Um…"

Janet opened the front door and prepared to shout at the people caroling for interrupting her fun time, when she saw that the carolers were child-sized…and weren't children. "Yah, yah-yah-yah, yah-yah!" the little creatures barked, chirped and growled. They were dressed up in caroler outfits, with scarfs and hats and even coats.

Tim walked over to Janet and looked over her shoulder, seeing the monsters that were attempting to sing. "Please tell me someone confused Christmas with Halloween," Tim said quietly, before he noticed the ears on the creatures' heads. They looked very familiar. Janet quickly backpedaled into her home, closing the door and locking it. "What the hell is going on!?" she shrieked as she ran over to a window to see some real carolers tied up by a light-post, missing some of their clothing.

Line Break

Gizmo muttered as he grabbed the tiny American flag and tried to move around it while little streamers and wrapping were scattered around him. "Patriotic little fella, isn't he?" Mooney commented as he reached a hand forward to pet Gizmo. "Aah, watch it, Mooney! He might tear your arm off!" Brett joked with a grin. The alcohol in his system was becoming more apparent.

"Dammit, Brett," Mooney muttered under his breath as he backed off from Gizmo. "Okay, so Gizmo is real. I'll buy that," Mooney said as he turned to look at Daria and Jane. "Now, these… _rules_ that you broke; were they written in Chinese, or were there other translations as well?" Mooney asked them.

"The person who sold Gizmo to my father explained the rules to him. He didn't have anything written down," Daria said. "Ah, I see. And, um, I assume that the consequences for breaking these rules were explained properly as well?" Mooney asked her. "Only the sunlight rule was explained properly," Daria replied.

"Oh, right, because if your father knew that feeding Gizmo at night would turn him into a monster, he clearly wouldn't have bought the little guy in the first place," Mooney said derisively. "Look, I know that this is a lot to take in, but can't you just give us the benefit of the doubt?" Jane asked him pleadingly. Mooney gave her a skeptical look. "Come on, you said that Gizmo is proof enough, and if we don't do something, this town is going to be a major disaster zone soon!"

"Hey, hey, that midnight rule; does it matter what time zone you're in?" Brett asked Jane. "What? Oh, give me a break. I didn't make the rules!" Jane replied. "Wait, wait, what if you're in an airplane and you cross a time zone? Hehe, or, what about daylight savings time?" Brett asked jokingly again. Daria let out an exasperated sigh at the deputy's behavior.

Before Brett could speak again, the phone rang. "This is Sergeant Mooney speaking," Mooney said into the phone. "Principal Li," he said. Jane and Daria watched him nodding his head as he listened to their principal on the phone. His face soon fell. "Oh. Yeah, sure, we'll-we'll be right over," Mooney said solemnly as he placed the phone back on its holder.

"Sarge?" Brett asked him. "That was Principal Li, over at the high school. She said that she found one of her teachers, Mr. Deckard, dead in his classroom," Mooney explained with a hint of disbelief in his voice. "It was one of the creatures," Jane said. "We saw it when we went to see Mr. Deckard after school today! Look at my hand!" Jane exclaimed.

Mooney turned to face her. "Oh yeah, was Mr. Deckard still alive when you went to see him?" Mooney asked her. "No, the gremlin had killed him!" Jane replied. "You knew that one of your teachers had died and you _didn't_ call the police!?" Mooney exclaimed. "There were more of them at Daria's house; we had to warn her mother that they had hatched from their cocoons!" Jane replied. "And you forgot all about Mr. Deckard's body, is that right?" Mooney asked dangerously.

"Anderson, get in here!" Mooney called. Deputy Anderson walked into the room slowly, rubbing his eyes. "Yes, Sarge?" he asked tiredly. "Keep an eye on these two girls. There's been an accident at the high school. One of their teachers died today, and they knew about it but didn't tell anybody! Don't let them out of your sight!" Mooney said as he grabbed his jacket and hat. "Come on, Brett!" Mooney barked.

"I'm driving," Brett said. "Like hell you are; you're drunk." "But you always get to drive!" Brett complained. "That's because I outrank you, ass-wipe," Mooney retorted as the two police officers exited the room. Anderson looked over at Daria and Jane, before focusing on Gizmo, sitting on Mooney's desk. "Did I miss something important?" Anderson asked as he pointed at Gizmo with a questioning look on his face.


	9. Mega Madness Part II

Chapter 09: Mega Madness Part-II

* * *

As soon as Jake Morgendorffer pulled into the driveway, he knew that something was off. After leaving his car and locking the door, he slowly made his way to the front door and noticed the broken window. _Helen! The girls!_ Jake quickly unlocked the front door and stepped inside his home. "Helen!? Daria, Quinn?!" Jake called frantically.

"Jake?" Helen asked from her spot on the couch. "Helen!" Jake exclaimed as he dropped his suitcase and ran over to his wife. "Honey, what happened? Are you okay? Are the girls okay!?" Jake asked worriedly. "I'm fine, for now. The girls are probably okay too," Helen responded, trying to keep a level head.

"But what happened!?" Jake asked, pointing at the broken window. "It's a long story. To make it short, the Mogwai hatched from their cocoons and turned into monsters," Helen explained to him. Jake gulped. "All of them?" he asked. "Except for Gizmo. He didn't eat after midnight, remember?" Helen replied.

"Oh yeah," Jake said. "But…what happened to the ones that…changed?" Jake asked her. "Take a look around," Helen said, pointing at the dead gremlin on the floor with a knife in its head. Jake stood very still as he processed the sight before him. When he was ready, he moved on to the kitchen, slowly taking in the gruesome warzone with morbid curiosity and amazement.

"Oh my god…" he whispered as he surveyed the carnage. _We'll probably need a new microwave_ , he thought to himself before leaving the kitchen. "Helen…weren't there _five_ cocoons?" Jake asked her as he knelt down next to her and put his jacket on her, noticing a chill coming in from the broken window. "Yes, Jake," Helen said. "But there are only four bodies. Where's the fifth? Where's Gizmo?" Jake asked her.

"Gizmo is with Daria and Jane. The last one, Stripe, is outside somewhere. They're looking for him. And then there are the three others," Helen said tiredly. "Right, Quinn's friends and that teacher at the high school, right?" Jake asked. "Mmhm," Helen responded. "Say, um, Honey, where's Quinn?"

Line Break

"And the guy who sold it to your father _didn't_ explain the consequences of breaking the other two rules?" Deputy Anderson asked Daria. "No," Daria answered flatly. Anderson leaned back in his chair. "So, why didn't you call the police when you discovered your teacher's body?" Anderson asked her. "We… we didn't think. We panicked," Daria answered.

Anderson was about to reply to that when the phone rang. He picked it up carefully. "Lawndale Police, this is Deputy Anderson speaking," he said into the phone. "What?" he asked after a minute. "Hold on, slow down," Anderson said before another phone in the office rang, followed by another one. Daria and Jane looked around, fear beginning to well inside of them as they realized the meaning of so many calls coming into the police station.

As Anderson tried to handle all of the calls coming in, Daria and Jane chose to quietly extricate themselves and Gizmo from the station, making sure not to draw attention to themselves as Anderson began to panic back in the office.

"Okay," Jane began as they exited the police station, "I think we need to just get back to your place, or mine, and try to come up with a plan." "Do you think we can make it to either of our places in one piece?" Daria asked as she saw the street lights flicker. "I hope so," Jane said warily.

Line Break

"Those lights must cost twice their mortgage," Jodie quipped as she and Mack walked through the town, admiring the various decorations that people had put on display. "Well, the holiday spirit does make people do things out of the ordinary," Mack commented with a chuckle.

"Yeah, nothing like spending hundreds of dollars to show how nice your house looks, only to find out that you needed that money later on," Jodie commented. "Hmpf, you sound like Daria," Mack said. "So? It's still a valid point," Jodie retorted. "Yeah, I mean that _does_ explain why people leave their Christmas decorations out all year long. You know, to convince themselves that it was money well spent," Mack said with a grin. Jodie chuckled lightly at his comment.

"Hey," Mack said, pointing at the top of a roof, "Do you see that?" "See what?" Jodie asked s she looked in the direction his finger was pointing. "Up there," Mack said, "I see something on that roof," he said. True enough, there was a small, dark figure scurrying along. "Are those elf-ears?" Jodie asked incredulously.

"They look like it," Mack said in agreement. The figure soon disappeared from sight. "So…" Mack began, "What was that-" The lights decorating the house suddenly went out. "Help me!" someone screamed. Mack and Jodie both looked over to see some kid struggling with strange-looking black and tan-striped things pulling him to the ground and pelting him with snowballs.

"What the-" Jodie began before she saw a car swerve off the road and hit a street light, sending another of the small creatures flying off of it and onto the sidewalk. "Mack, let's get out of here!" Jodie implored him.

Line Break

"Jeez, I swear Principal Li never leaves that school of hers," Mooney griped as he drove towards Lawndale High School. It was almost 8:00 pm. "Maybe she has a bed and shower built into her office," Brett suggested with a laugh. Mooney merely rolled his eyes. "Brett, we have a possible homicide on our hands; can't you be a little more serious?" Mooney chastised his subordinate.

"Um, sorry," Brett said sheepishly. Mooney merely shook his head. They were about to turn a corner at a stop sign when they saw a charitable donation stand, with a man dressed up as Santa Claus. "What the hell?" Mooney asked as the Charity Santa stumbled toward the cop car, trying to get several child-sized things off of him. They were black with tan stripes, had elvish ears, and long arms.

The Charity Santa pounded on the cruiser's windows as one of the creatures looked at Mooney, its ears folded back as its eyes widened before it let out a snarl and a laugh. "Ha-hah!" the creature laughed as it covered the Charity Santa's eyes. "Get 'em off me! Get them off!" the Charity Santa screamed. "I want yum-yum!" one creature, clinging to his legs, barked.

"Um, Mooney, I think we should do something," Brett said soberly. "Yeah," Mooney said quietly. Unknown to the two cops, a gremlin had gotten underneath the police cruiser, and had dismantled the brake fluid tube. "Mooney, I really think we should go back to the station," Brett said, fear and panic becoming evident in his voice.

"Just clam down," Mooney said as he stepped on the gas pedal, leaving the Charity Santa behind to deal with the creatures. Ahead of them, Brett saw two people on the sidewalk being harassed by more of the creatures. Some of the creatures were hanging from the street lights and pelting people with snowballs or whatever they could find.

"Jesus, what is going on!? It's supposed to be Christmas!" Brett cried in a panic. "Shut up, Brett!" Mooney ordered, trying to hide his own panic. "We need to go back to the station!" Brett said shakily. "Those girls were telling the truth," he added with wide eyes. "Dammit," Mooney said under his breath as they approached a four-way intersection.

At the power and control box for the traffic lights, one gremlin was playing engineer with the cables and wires. "Hehe," it chuckled as it disconnected and reconnected multiple cables, causing the traffic lights to go crazy.

A pickup truck swerved into the intersection and made a left turn, pulling in front of the police cruiser. "Damn," Mooney growled as he hit the brakes, only for the car to keep moving. "Slow down, Mooney, slow down!" Brett shouted in panic as the cruiser drove up to the truck and rammed its bumper. "I can't slow down; the brakes aren't-Jesus!" Mooney cried as the car kept moving and soon flipped onto its side and then its roof after pushing the truck to its side, making the driver lose control and crash into a coffee shop. A gremlin watching the scene laughed as the alarms went off in the coffee shop. "Coffee, coffee, coffee," it muttered happily.

Line Break

Quinn Morgendorffer ran onto the other side of the street as she tried to avoid the people grappling with gremlins around her. "Ah!" she cried as she was pelted with snowballs from behind. She managed to turn a corner only to see a small gremlin standing in front of her holding a jacket close to its body. Just as Quinn processed the sight, the gremlin opened up the jacked, effectively flashing her with laughing.

Quinn angrily kicked the gremlin out of her way before continuing on her trek home, narrowly avoiding a sports car running onto the sidewalk as the driver struggled with a gremlin trying to take control of the steering wheel while fighting him. Quinn dove out of the way as she watched the car race out of control before swerving back onto the road and then crashing into a car parked on the side of the street.

"This isn't happening!" Quinn said to herself as she got back up and kept running. She saw a pharmacy nearby and quickly made her way over, hoping to catch some quick respite before venturing back out into the chaos that had unfolded in the streets.

All over Lawndale, chaos and confusion had erupted as the gremlins showed everyone their own version of holiday cheer.

On Dega Street, inside the Zon, Mystic Spiral had found themselves being assaulted by some very angry fans. "Dude," Jesse Moreno said as he looked over at Trent Lane, "I told you that we shouldn't have played Ice Box Woman." "Huh," Trent said as he and Jesse were both tied to a chair and forced to watch the gremlins play with their instruments.

"Hey, these guys sound okay," Trent said with a smirk. The other two members of Mystic Spiral, Nick and Max, had been similarly tied up to some stools around the Zon's bar. A small number of other patrons had been otherwise forced into the bathrooms for protection or had been tied up to poles.

"Eedabodo," one of the gremlins said into the microphone. "Ooda, badabaga." "Hmm, I like his style," Trent said with a nod. "Music doesn't always need words. Hey…that would make a great song," he continued. "Mm, yup," Jesse said in agreement as several gremlins started consuming large amounts of beer and other alcoholic beverages around them, spilling some of the liquid onto their heads and laughing. "I just wish I had something to write it down on," Trent said with a hint of regret in his voice.

At Axl's Piercing Parlor, the owner, Axl, was watching with concern as multiple gremlins began attaching things to each other with his equipment. "You'd all better be over eighteen," he muttered as one gremlin gave itself a nose-ring. Another two gremlins were busy giving each other skull tattoos, along with a shield with the letter "W" on it.

At Suds Laundromat, one gremlin was laughing its ass off as it watched another gremlin spin around with a load of towels. Another gremlin cackled as it mixed a bright green sock with a load of whites. One gremlin was so drawn to the sight of a clothes drier spinning clothes around at high speed, moving its own head and neck in a clockwise motion, that when the cycle suddenly stopped, it snapped its own neck by accident. Two other gremlins watching the scene pointed at the corpse and laughed mirthfully.

Inside of Drugs N' Stuff, where Quinn was hiding, two gremlins were popping sleeping pills like there was no tomorrow. Quinn watched with morbid curiosity as one gremlin began puking its guts out as another gremlin laughed at it. The puking gremlin grabbed the laughing gremlin and shoved its face down into the mess on the floor. "Night-night," the gremlin growled.

Another gremlin grabbed a can of bug repellant and sprayed itself in the face, howling as its eyes stung. It stopped before throwing the can at the wall, missing Quinn's head as she ducked behind a rack of paperback books. "Spray can [i]caca![/i]" the gremlin growled as it moved to another aisle.

Quinn slowly made her way over to the entrance of the pharmacy while keeping her eyes peeled, noticing another gremlin devouring the candy in front of the front desk. It was too busy feeding itself to notice her as she made her escape back out into the streets, where she saw three cars in a pileup and several gremlins caroling to an elderly couple huddling behind a bench.

At Brittany Taylor's house, she and her father were busy shooting at any gremlin that came near them. "I need another magazine!" Brittany shouted firmly as she emptied the last round in the Springfield hunting rifle that her father had given her as a birthday present. "Here," Steve Taylor said as he handed her a box of ammo.

"What the hell are these things?" Steve asked himself as he fired another round, taking the hat off of a gremlin who just looked around puzzled by the loss of headwear. One gremlin threw a snowball at Steve's face, hitting him in the eyes as he staggered back. "Daddy!" Brittany shouted as she finished reloading. She took aim and fired a round straight into the offending gremlin's right hand.

The gremlin screamed in pain before it began looking at the hole its hand. It laughed as it began poking a finger from its other hand into the hole. The two gremlins next to it watched in fascination before laughing as well. "Little bastards," Brittany growled as she took aim and brought all three gremlins down with headshots in quick succession. She smirked at her success.

Line Break

"Crap, they're everywhere!" Jane exclaimed as she and Daria raced inside of Pizza King, not noticing that there were already several gremlins inside, harassing Artie, the paranoid waiter and UFO abduction victim, if any of his stories were to be believed. "I already let you probe every part of me the last time! Why can't you just leave me alone!? I'm not going back to your ship again, ever!" Artie shouted from behind the counter.

Jane and Daria quickly made their way back outside, running past several stores where people were being assaulted by gremlins. One man had a gremlin riding his shoulders and shouting "Hi-Ho silver!" into the air maniacally. "Get it off!" the man pleaded to anyone who was close by. Unfortunately, everyone close by was dealing with at least one or more gremlins.

Daria ducked as she saw sparks flying out of a telephone pole while a gremlin screamed from being electrocuted. The gremlin had tried messing with the wires and had chomped down on the cables when it lost its footing. The gremlin soon fell to the ground, its body twitching from the electric current that had killed it.

Daria stopped running when she saw a gremlin pop out from a corner and aim a gun at her. She quickly shined her flashlight at it, causing it to drop the gun and cover its eyes. Daria rushed over and grabbed the gremlin before throwing it onto the street where a panicked driver ran over it before correcting his course as a car behind him, driven by gremlins, honked its horn as it gave chase.

"Come on!" Jane said as she grabbed Daria's hand and pulled her along, trying to find a place to hide. "Okay, do we head to your place or just find shelter?" Jane asked as she kicked a gremlin out of her way. "We just try to survive," Daria said. "Good plan," Jane quipped as she saw Charles Upchuck Ruttheimer III begin chased by two gremlins dressed in drag. "You aren't my tyyyype!" he cried as one of them latched onto his leg.

"Don't be afraid of what you feel!" the gremlin cackled as Upchuck tried to pull the gremlin off of him, allowing the other gremlin to jump on him. "We want love-love!" it shouted gleefully.

"Daria, Jane!" Upchuck shouted as he saw them. "Help me!" he pleaded before he managed to grab the one gremlin and throw it to the ground. Jane took out her flashlight and aimed it at the two gremlins assaulting him. They shrieked and ran away from the light.

"I can't believe you actually did that," Daria quipped as she and Jane resumed their trek, Upchuck having taken the chance to run away. "Thank you!" he had shouted. "Well, maybe we can use that later if we need a favor from him," Jane said, trying to justify her actions.

Line Break

Jake Morgendorffer kept his eyes trained on the madness outside, watching as a kid across the street used her slingshot to send several gremlins tumbling off of her roof. Jake's eyes widened when he saw a figure running up to the front door of the house. He grabbed his baseball bat and prepared to swing when he heard pounding on the front door. " _Mom, let me in!_ " the voice shouted frantically.

"Jake, that's Quinn!" Helen said with a mixture of surprise and relief. Jake unlocked the door and let his daughter inside, dropping the bat and embracing her in a hug. "Quinn! Thank goodness you're all right," Jake said to her. "Are you hurt?" he asked her. "No," Quinn answered breathlessly. Quinn squirmed out of her father's embrace and ran over to her mother.

"Mom, are you okay?" Quinn asked her. "I'm fine," Helen answered as she hugged Quinn. She looked over her mother's shoulder and saw the dead gremlin lying on the floor. "Mom, when they hatched-" "I got most of them," Helen said. "What about Gizmo?" Quinn asked her.

"He's fine. Daria and Jane took Gizmo with them when they went hunting for Stripe," Helen said. "Stripe?" Quinn asked. "He got away," Helen said. "How?" Quinn asked. Helen pointed toward the boarded up window. "Oh," she said. "Mom, where are Daria and Jane?" Quinn asked her. "They're still hunting for Stripe, although given how things have turned out, I guess they weren't able to catch him before he found some water," Helen replied.

"What about the gremlins at Stacey and Sandi's homes?" Helen asked Quinn. "We managed to trap the one in Stacey's room, although it didn't last long before he broke through her bedroom window," Quinn said. "What about Sandi?" Helen asked.

"She and her family managed to catch it and locked it in the downstairs bathroom room or something," Quinn said, remembering how Sandi described the gremlin escaping its first confined room before it had been trapped again. "The bathroom; where it would have easy access to water?" Helen asked her. Quinn's eyes widened at the realization.

Meanwhile, at the Griffin household…

"They completely emptied the fridge," Tom Griffin said sadly as he looked at his destroyed kitchen. "I told you we shouldn't have locked it in the bathroom!" Sandi shouted at her brothers, Sam and Chris. "It had easy access to water in there!" Sandi explained angrily. "Oops," Sam said as he looked around the wrecked living room. "Morons," Sandi muttered under her breath.

At Lawndale High...

Principal Angela Li ducked behind her chair as the gremlin threw a stapler at her. "Get out of my school," Li growled as she opened a desk drawer and took out a handgun, quickly assembling it and inserting a clip. "Haha!" Earl laughed at her.

"You're lucky you didn't kill a teacher with a family living in town," Li shouted. "This is why I wanted those damn electric fences built around the perimeter," she shouted as she stood up and fired at Earl, who ducked behind the doorway of Li's office.

"Now I'm down one science teacher!" Li shouted angrily. "Do you know how difficult it is to find new teachers willing to work with the salary and budget cuts we have here!? Do you!?"

"Shut up!" Earl shouted with a raspy voice. "Get in here and say that to my face!" Li demanded with a roar. "Uh-uh." Earl said before he ran away. "I am the god of this school! My word is law!" Li shouted at the top of her lungs.

At McGrundy's Brew Pub, Stripe sat around a table playing poker with several of his progeny, along with one who was wearing drag. The drag gremlin saw one of the other players take out a second hand of cards when he thought the others weren't looking, and quickly told Stripe. Stripe snarled at the cheater and aimed a revolver at him, killing the bastard with one shot. Stripe leaned forward and cackled in delight.

Over at another table, five gremlins were busy getting plastered around a boom-box, fighting over what station to play. The fight quickly turned into a brawl, with one gremlin grabbing a hammer and assaulting the others. Two gremlins watching from stools at the serving table laughed at their companions' antics.

At the serving bar, one gremlin became completely sloshed and fell face-forward into a bowl of chips, while another gremlin poured a bowl of cigarette butts into another's drink. The gremlin tasted its drink and then smashed the mug into the cigarette smoker's face. Two other gremlins laughed at the display, as did the cigarette-smoking gremlin.

At the table with the boom-box, one sober gremlin began switching the channels on it, hoping to find something worth hearing. " _Get higher and higher; Straight up we'll climb!_ " He switched to another channel. " _In Black. Galaxy Defenders._ " He switched again. " _Claus is coming… to town!_ " The gremlin grunted in displeasure. Another gremlin ran up behind him and wacked him on the back of the head with a mallet before running away. The gremlin switched one more time as he fell face-first onto the table. " _Madness. Su-per Badness… tonight! I really, really, really, really wanna' let it go~o!_ "

As the song played, one gremlin climbed up on the counter and grabbed onto the blades of the ceiling fan. "Wee!" it actually cried out in joy. Stripe and the other gremlins looked up to watch their companion as he spun around. Another gremlin soon climbed up and pulled the chain on the fan, causing its speed to increase.

The gremlin went faster and faster, with the other gremlins watching intently as it spun. Eventually the gremlin lost its grip on the fan blades and went soaring through the air, crashing headfirst into the electric sign for the bar. Stripe and the other gremlins all laughed at the incident. When the gremlin's body fell to the floor, they all laughed even harder.


	10. Super Badness

Chapter 10: Super Badness

* * *

"The Mall?" Daria asked Jane as they made their way to the doors of a gigantic building. "Come on, it's far enough away," Jane explained. The girls had been on the run for at least an hour since they had found Pizza King to be occupied, trying to avoid as many wrecked vehicles and gremlins as possible. "How long have these things been running around now?" Jane asked Daria as they slowed down, noticing that the parking lot was only half-full. "Stripe reached the YMCA a little after seven fifteen or seven thirty," Daria said.

All of the cars in the parking lot seemed to be in decent shape, with no signs of having been tampered with or attacked. "See, no gremlins around here," Jane said. "Guess again," Daria said as she pointed to a gremlin breaking into someone's car. "Yeah, but see how far that car is from the mall entrance? He may be one of the first gremlins to get this far," Jane suggested in a hopeful tone.

"Meaning that the others will _still_ find a way to get here at some point," Daria said. "Then let's get inside while we can," Jane said. "Sure, Dawn of the Gremlins," Daria muttered under her breath as they got closer to the main doors. "Gizmo, you may want to cover yourself with the lights being on," Daria said. Jane moved over and helped zip up the backpack to give Gizmo more darkness, but still leaving it open enough for him to peek out of it.

Daria and Jane pushed the doors open and went inside the entrance of the mall. The escalators that led to the main shopping floor were still working, although the lights were somewhat dimmed. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Daria said as they opted to take the stairs.

As they reached the top of the stairs, they could see an empty hall, with stores still open, but no one inside. They could, however, hear the sounds of people further inside. "You do realize that the chances of them already being here have just increased dramatically, right Jane?" Daria asked her friend.

"We won't know until we get closer," Jane said. "Come on, if we can get to a sporting goods store, we can get some bats or something to defend ourselves better. I think these flashlights are going to die soon," Jane said as they made their way over to a map.

"Hmm, you are _here_ ," Jane said. "Wow, that's helpful," Daria said sarcastically. "There; that's the closest sporting goods store," Jane said as she pointed to a colored block with the name Dan's Sporting Gear on it. "Let's go," Daria said.

Line Break

Mack and Jodie ducked inside the entrance of Chez Pierre as a convertible driven by some gremlins passed by. Mack kept his eyes on the outside, watching for any gremlins that approached the restaurant. "I think we'll be okay in here," Mack said before he turned to see Jodie staring ahead at the tables and booths of the restaurant with surprise. "Oh," Mack said as he saw a dozen gremlins sitting around, harassing a waiter and throwing drinks at each other.

"Huh, and they still have better manners than half of the football team. I'm impressed," Mack said quietly. Jodie had to struggle to hold in her laughter after she registered Mack's words. She looked around at the rest of the place. Two couples sitting in booths were shrinking away from a gremlin dressed up as a waiter, complete with a fake mustache.

Mack and Jodie made their way over to the kitchen, hoping that they could hide in there. Alas, they were not thinking straight, as the kitchen was the sight of pure disaster. One gremlin was shoving pots and pans into an oven, while another gremlin was having a fight with a cook, as both of them were throwing utensils and foodstuffs at each other. The cook had mashed potatoes dripping from his face, while the gremlin had a banana peel hanging from its left ear.

There were two other cooks, one of whom was tied up to a rack of plates with handkerchiefs, while the other was being force-fed some unholy concoction by two gremlins dressed up as cooks themselves. Jodie and Mack saw the door to the freezer and tried their luck, smiling as it opened up for them. When Jodie stepped inside, she frowned in dismay at the sight of three gremlins gorging themselves on ice cream and other desserts.

One gremlin had an empty tub on his head, while another was holding his head in pain after swallowing some ice cream too fast. His companions laughed at his brain freeze. "Is there any place where these things aren't?" Jodie asked. "The woods?" Mack suggested. "Why not?" Jodie asked rhetorically as the two of them ran out of the kitchen.

Line Break

"No gremlins?" Daria asked Jane as they ducked another book being thrown at them. They had tried to take a shortcut through a bookstore that had two entrances, but had found themselves ambushed. "Hey, the Kama Sutra," Jane said as she grabbed the book. "I think I'll keep this," she whispered as she tucked the book into Daria's backpack.

"Jane," Daria grumbled as a pop-up book smacked her in the face, knocking her glasses off. Jane quickly retrieved them and handed them back to her. "Thanks. I told you that they were probably already in here," Daria said. "Well, I thought that Cashman's being empty was a good sign!" Jane said defensively.

Another book sailed past them. "Come on, let's get out and find another way around," Daria said firmly as she grabbed a book and made a calculated throw at one of the gremlins on the other side of the room. The gremlin fell back after being hit in the head, and two of its companions laughed at it.

After making their way out of the bookstore, Daria and Jane found that more gremlins had managed to enter the mall. The whole place was now in utter chaos as some gremlins drove toy cars around and others splashed soda onto the floors. "Geronimo!" one gremlin shouted as it jumped from a ledge on the next floor up while using a blanket as a parachute. It didn't work very well. "Ooh," it groaned in pain.

Jane and Daria eventually made their way to the food court. Jane gasped after a gremlin splashed her with some Orange Julius. "Ahahaha!" it laughed at her. "Come here!" Jane yelled as she grabbed the gremlin and tossed it into the air, watching as it crashed into a Chinese food booth. "Yum-yum," said one gremlin as it consumed an entire plate or orange chicken and rice, ignoring the crash landing of the other gremlin.

Daria had opened her mouth to speak when a slice of pizza flew into her hair from the side. She looked over and saw two gremlins having a food fight at a Three Dude's Pizza booth. They were laughing their heads off as their shoveled pizza into their mouths and at each other, tossing spices and ingredients into the air and onto the floor, causing one gremlin walking by to trip and fall on his face before a metal pan fell over and conked him on his head.

"Geez, it's already ten thirty," Jane said as she looked at a clock hanging above the wrecked pizza booth. "I didn't think that the mall would still be open this late," Daria quipped. "Look around; special holiday season hours," Jane said as they exited the food court and made their way over to Dan's Sporting Gear, grabbing an abandoned plate of pizza slices on their way out.

Dara and Jane were almost to their destination when several gremlins riding bicycles came rushing at them, throwing tennis balls at the girls. Jane kicked one bicycle over as it came near, sending the two gremlins on it tumbling off. "Overboard," one cried.

Soon, three gremlins riding small tricycles came up to them, with the gremlins shooting confetti at the girls and throwing basketballs at them. One gremlin ended up hitting another gremlin with a basketball and sent it crashing into a party-store window. Jane kicked another gremlin off of its trike before lifting the machine and throwing it at the creature.

Daria grabbed Jane by the shoulder and ushered her to resume their trek as more gremlins ran by them. Daria and Jane kept dodging the gremlins and eventually made their way to the entrance of Dan's Sporting Gear. Unfortunately, the store had already been plundered by the gremlins, which were all busy running around attacking each other and other mall patrons with various sports equipment.

"Oh, look," Daria said dryly, "A plastic baseball bat. We should be able to kill one of them after hitting it on the head for three hours straight, provided it stays still." "I've always admired your enthusiasm," Jane quipped as she searched for something, anything that could still be used to defend themselves.

"Dammit," Jane muttered after ten minutes of searching the store, "They cleaned the place out completely." "Aside from the useless plastic toys, you mean," Daria stated as Gizmo poked his head out of her backpack to look around.

Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the mall, the gremlins were living up and partying to their devious little hearts' desires. "Here, just take it all!" the operator of a snack stand shouted as he threw the last three boxes of Slim-Jims at a group of gremlins harassing him before running off.

In a toy store, several gremlins were busy hitting each other with toy lightsabers and throwing Lego blocks at each other. One pair of gremlins was smacking each other in the face with plush toys and beanie babies.

In a video store, a handful of gremlins were busy throwing video tapes and expensive DVDs at each other, catching the DVDs as though they were Frisbees. Some gremlins were taking the tape out of the cassettes and decorating themselves with it. One gremlin was busy looking at an advertisement for a late night theater showing of _John Carpenter's The Thing_ and _Santa Claus Conquers The Martians_ at Play House 99. "Ooh," the gremlin said as it looked at the poster. It quickly grabbed the attention of several other gremlins.

In the pet store, several gremlins were leaving in frustration because not a single animal had shied away from them. There was no fun to be had after posing with the large boa constrictor became boring and it was returned to its cage.

In a Wine & Spirits Shoppe, several gremlins were getting drunk off of copious amounts of wine, splashing each other and drinking straight from the bottle. "Yum… _yum!_ " one gremlins said before letting out a loud belch. Two of its companions laughed at it before smashing a half-empty bottle of wine over its head.

In the mall's arcade, dozens of gremlins were doing exactly what anyone does in an arcade, with the one change that the gremlins were tearing out cords and cables from various machines and reconnecting them to make the various games work without needing coins. One gremlin was bouncing along on a water-ski racing game, before another gremlin covered its eyes with its hands and caused the gremlin to crash in the game.

Another gremlin used one of its brethren as a ball for one of those skee-ball games. Two other gremlins were using one of their comrades as a puck in an air-hockey game, with the puck yelling with raucous laughter as it spun around on the table.

In the center of the mall, several gremlins were making a sporting good circus, with many of them hitting each other with baseball bats and using toys and dining ware for their batting practice. The sound of breaking glass and pottery could be heard as the gremlins laughed and carried on merrily with their destruction.

"Great, so where's the nearest exit?" Daria asked Jane as they came across another map. "The nearest-" Jane was cut off as a pellet from a B.B. Gun hit the map. Both girls turned around to see Stripe holding a small Uzi-shaped bb gun aimed at them. His lips curled into a snarl and his eyes sparked narrowed with malice. "Daria _caca!_ " he spat as he took aim. "Stripe," Daria said worriedly. "At least it isn't a gun that uses bullets," Jane quipped as the girls quickly ducked behind the map as Stripe fired at them again.

"Those pellets may not hurt _us_ , but Gizmo might be vulnerable," Daria said as she heard Stripe fire more pellets at the map. "Hahaha!" they heard Stripe cackle with glee. Another gremlin quickly came up to him and spoke to him excitedly.

Stripe growled at the other gremlin before pushing him away and firing at the map and floor around the girls until it ran dry. They soon heard him toss the gun away after grumbling something. Carefully peeking out, they saw Stripe joining several other gremlins as they marched to the food court.

"Cashman's?" Jane asked Daria. "Cashman's," Daria replied as they got up and quietly made their way over to the mostly untouched clothing store. It was their best spot to hide.

Back near the center of town, a dumpster lid was slowly raised as Upchuck peeked out at the wreckage of Lawndale. Several gremlins were busy consuming bottles of beer and smashing them against each other with laughter, while some were busy breaking into cars and tampering with the internal equipment.

"Are they still out there?" asked Andrea Hecuba, who was currently hiding in the dumpster with Upchuck, along with some kid who looked a lot like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. "Yes, and they're still getting drunk and breaking things," Upchuck whispered. "At least they know how to have a good time," Andrea commented wryly. "I'm hungry," Shaggy said flatly.

Line Break

Daria and Jane huddled quietly together in one of the changing booths in Cashman's. They'd been hiding there for over two hours now, only venturing out to use the bathroom while waiting for the chaos occupying the rest of the mall to wind down. "So… I guess we'll be stuck here until morning," Daria said with a sigh. "Who knows? Things have been getting kind of quiet for the last thirty minutes," Jane replied.

It was true, Daria realized, things had indeed quieted down. "Should we risk going out there?" Daria asked Jane. "Can't hurt," Jane replied, putting her jacket back on. "I just don't wanna' keep taking off my jacket from overheating. I've spent more time in this clothing store willingly than I ever want to again," Jane added.

After carefully making their way out of Cashman's, Daria and Jane, with Gizmo watching their backs from Daria's backpack, found the mall to be mostly deserted. There were a few gremlins making their way to the exit, riding tricycles and firing nerf darts at each other while laughing, but otherwise it seemed that the little monsters had had their fill of extravagant capitalist monuments. At least, that's what Daria thought as she saw the carnage left behind.

There was broken glass surrounding many store windows and doors, along with food and boxes and wrappers and packages of all kinds strewn about the place. Marbles and candy littered the floor, causing the girls to watch each step they took. An eerie silence permeated the building as the previously loud and chaotic mayhem that had engulfed it was now gone.

The dilapidated posters and banners that hung from various stands and store entrances were limp and inert as the girls silently walked past each store without saying a word. They soon reached an open area near one end of the mall, with a mess of various toys, equipment, clothing, food, and other paraphernalia strewn about. Jane looked over at what appeared to be a pileup of Barbie cars, with a lone gremlin lying dead underneath, its neck twisted in an unnatural manner alongside a broken bottle of spirits.

"Hmm, I thought drinking and driving only applied to humans with real cars," Daria said as she saw the sight. "Well, live and learn…well, learn anyway," Jane quipped as they walked over to an escalator that led to an exit. "Just to be safe, we should still take the stairs," Daria said.

Forty minutes of walking later, Jane and Daria reached the center of town, looking at the wreckage and carnage that the gremlins had left behind. "Where are they?" Jane asked nervously. The town was far too quiet for what had been a center of destruction only an hour earlier. "What time is it?" Daria asked her. "I don't have a watch on me," Jane said.

"Well, it looks like it might be getting light sometime soon. They're probably all hiding someplace dark," Daria guessed. "Are you sure?" Jane asked her. "No, but it seems likely, given what we've seen of their behavior so far," Daria replied.

The trio walked silently through the street, searching for any clues that could help them find the gremlins. "Daria, just what are we going to do once we find them?" Jane asked, breaking the silence. "I don't know yet, but we have to do… _something_ ," Daria replied. "Your conscience has broken out of its cage again, I see," Jane quipped with a smile.

"Despite my preference for not getting involved in things, this is something that I just can't ignore," Daria said as they saw the Play House 99 in the distance. The lights were still on and it was mostly intact, although the parking lot was a major disaster zone. "I've been involved in this from the start, ever since Dad brought Gizmo home. I couldn't ignore this even if I wanted to," Daria finished resolutely.

"Well, I was kind of involved at the start, too," Jane said. "I'm aware," Daria replied. "So, we both have to clean up this mess. Wait, what about Quinn? She was the one who got Gizmo wet in the first place," Jane said. "True, but we'll deal with that issue later. Right now, we have some pests to take care of… permanently," Daria said.


	11. Theatrical Climax and Showdown

Chapter 11: Theatrical Climax/Showdown

* * *

As they neared the entrance to Play House 99, they could see a gremlin inside the lobby, gathering spilt popcorn into paper bag before returning to one of the theater rooms. "They're inside the theater," Jane said. "Excellent deduction," Daria said flatly as they slowly opened the main doors and crept inside the theater lobby. Daria looked around at the posters hanging on the walls and the promotional cardboard cutouts.

Jane noticed a large poster announcing the cinema's special Christmas double feature: _John Carpenter's The Thing_ and _Santa Claus Conquers The Martians_. "Hmm, I think I can see why they came here. They've got good taste, sort of," Jane commented as she and Dara made their way over to one of the theaters showing _The Thing_.

" _If it had had more time to finish, it would have looked, sounded, and acted just like Bennings_ ," they could hear the voice of Kurt Russell say. "Do you think we can stay for a showing?" Jane asked quietly. "The movie was released on DVD just last year," Daria said. "I don't have a DVD player… yet," Jane said as they moved over to the theater doors for the showing of _Santa Claus Conquers The Martians_. " _You are the laziest man on Mars! Why are you so lazy?_ " they heard someone say faintly.

"Oh, yeah, I remember this episode," Jane said with a grin. "Huh?" Daria asked her. "Daria, have you ever watched Mystery Science Theater 3000?" Jane asked her. "Mystery what?" Daria asked her. "You've… okay, after we finish up here, I'm going to introduce you to one of the greatest TV shows of all time," Jane said. "But first, we have to make sure that _all_ of them are in here, or else we'll have a repeat fiasco," Jane finished.

Inside Theater # 4, over 150 gremlins were watching John Carpenter's terror-fest with sheer delight. One gremlin had two popcorn bags on his ears as he moved his head and laughed like Rob Schneider, before another gremlin bonked on the noggin with a mallet. Sitting in the front row, Stripe and Earl were watching the standoff between the men of Outpost 13 after discovering that someone had sabotaged the blood test.

" _Are you guys gonna' listen to Gary? I mean, he could **be** one of those **things!**_ " Windows cried as he held his shotgun tightly. Stripe fished into his bucket for snacks, but found it empty. Earl leaned over and said but a simple and eloquent statement: "Milk Duds." Stripe nodded his head before getting out of his seat. Earl simply muttered Milk Duds to himself again as he looked around.

Stripe made his way into the lobby, searching for snacks but found only scattered bits of popcorn on the floor. His fellow gremlins had eaten just about everything else. "Yum-yum?" he asked as he looked around before sighing in frustration. As he began to feel defeat he looked out the lobby windows and saw a department store a little ways across the street. It had an advertisement for candy on it. "Yum-yum!" Stripe said with delight as he made his way out of the theater.

Line Break

After confirming that every single gremlin not already killed by its own stupidity or comrades was in the cinema. Daria and Jane quietly made their way to a staff entrance door. "Jane, what are we doing?" Daria asked her quietly. "We're going to cause a little destruction of our own," Jane said. "How so?" Daria asked her.

"Well, if the layout map of the building here is accurate, then we should be able to get into the boiler room from the stairwell behind that door over there," Jane said as she and Daria moved quietly. The room they were in was in front of the theater showing _Santa Claus Conquers The Martians_ , and there were almost 200 hundred gremlins in those seats watching the film.

After reaching the boiler room, Jane quickly went over and found the gas valve. She grabbed a wrench lying on a cabinet and began to loosen it. Daria watched from a distance, keeping her eyes on Jane. With a grunt, Jane finally loosened the valve and released the gas. "Alright, let's go, and don't breathe any of the gas!" Jane exclaimed as she and Daria made their way back up the stairs.

Jane grabbed some toilet paper and a lighter from on the ground and set to work rolling it to meet the door, making sure that enough was on their side to give them a chance to escape. When she felt that the paper as long enough, she flicked the lighter and watched the paper burn. "Alright, let's go," Jane said as she and Daria made their way over to the other side of the room.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the gremlins in the projection booth had gotten into a fight and had knocked the tape reel out of the projector, leaving the screen blank and white. This allowed the gremlins to see the shadows of Daria and Jane. They quickly jumped from their seats with angy screeches and barks. Daria and Jane could see the shadows of the gremlins as they leapt onto the stage to reach the screen and began clawing at it to reach them. "Crap, run!" Jane exclaimed.

The gremlins soon tore through and began chasing the girls through the back hallways, quickly gaining on them. Jane looked back to see the gremlins getting closer. "Run faster!" she cried to Daria, who was having trouble keeping up. Jane saw a back exit as they turned a corner.

"Come on, move!" she yelled. "I-I'm trying!" Daria yelled. One gremlin almost managed to reach her, but staggered back when Gizmo spat in his fac. "Gremlin no-no," Gizmo muttered to himself as Daria soon caught up with Jane, who was holding the door open.

"Move, Daria, move!" Jane shouted as Daria ran out the door. Jane quickly tried to close the door, but the arms and hands of dozens of gremlins got in the way. "Dammit!" Jane grunted as she tried to push the door closed on them.

Meanwhile, the lit toilet paper was getting closer to the boiler room door.

"Jane!" Daria cried as she rushed over and helped Jane push the door closed. One gremlin managed to grab Jane's jacket and refused to let go. Daria quickly grabbed the arm and bit it, forcing the gremlin to let go with a painful screech. The gremlins quickly withdrew their hands for a few seconds, giving the girls a chance to shut the door and block it with some bricks lying around.

The flame got closer to the door.

"There, now come on!" Jane said as she placed the last brick in front of the door. The clanging and scraping sounds of the gremlins banging and clawing at the door were getting more intense with each passing second. Jane grabbed Daria's arm and pulled her along as they ran away from the door, soon passing over to the parking lot and running into the street. The girls found a turned over car to hide behind as they watched the front of the building with trepidation.

The flame reached under the door.

Daria and Jane's eyes widened as the cinema exploded, before ducking as debris flew outward into the sky. Inside, several gremlins were running around screaming like howler monkeys and parrots, with one gremlin holding a knife and wearing a surgeon mask with a crazed look in his eyes as he laughed maniacally at his predicament. One gremlin wearing an usher uniform screamed that he wanted his money back, just before white hot flame engulfed everything.

A second explosion engulfed the cinema, this one just as ferocious as the first, lighting up the sky and streets around it. Daria and Jane covered their ears and ducked again as shrapnel and debris flew around, breaking windows and littering the streets.

Over at the broken window of a department store, Stripe looked out at the explosion, recognizing its location with surprise and a gasp. He soon dropped some of the candy in his arms as he realized that all of his progeny had perished. With a faint sense of remorse, Stripe looked around before seeing Daria and Jane huddling behind a car. His eyes narrowed in anger as he saw the culprits of his brethren's demise.

Daria and Jane stood up after the debris had lightened and looked over at the burning and smoldering remains of Play House 99. "Do you think we can get a refund for that?" Jane asked with a relieved smile. Daria formed a small smile of her own in response before chuckling.

Gizmo looked over at the destroyed building with a sense of relief and remorse, before he turned his head and saw a familiar figure in a broken department store window. "Oh no!" Gizmo cried as he recognized the figure. Daria and Jane turned around after hearing Gizmo's exclamation, before looking over to see Stripe. Stripe backed up at seeing them face him.

"Stripe," Daria said. Stripe gasped and backed away from the window, disappearing into the darkened store. "Dammit, I thought we'd gotten all of them," Jane said as they ran over to the department store entrance. Daria tried to open the doors, but they were locked. She quickly jogged over to the broken window and carefully reached in to grab a folded stool.

Daria took off her backpack before handing it to Jane. "Hold him, please," she requested as Jane took the backpack. "Daria, what are you-" Jane was interrupted as Daria smashed the stool against the window breaking more of the glass before there was a hole large enough for them to fit through. Jane looked up at the sky and saw a tint of light blue, signaling the arrival of dawn.

She quickly covered up Gizmo before following Daria into the department store, searching for lights. She saw Daria over at the entrance trying to flip some switches. "They aren't working," Daria said frustrated. "We'll have to find the master controls or something," Jane said.

"Maser controls?" Daria asked her. "Come on, this is one of those old stores from the seventies and eighties," Jane said. "They have a room with master controls for everything, including lights and air conditioning and whatnot," Jane explained as they searched for an employee-only sign above a door. "They're usually near the bathrooms," Jane said.

After finding a door with a sign that said, "Employees Only," Daria and Jane pushed through, making their way up a flight of stairs. "In here," Jane said as they walked into a room with control panels and monitors.

"Okay, can we turn on the security cameras to find Stripe?" Daria asked as she looked at the controls. "We can try, but we can't let Stripe get out of here," Jane said firmly. "If he can get to water, this whole thing will start all over again. I'm not blowing up another movie theater," Jane added as she looked at a directory map on the wall. "Huh, they sell just about everything here," Jane said as she looked at the different departments.

"Except for produce and deli," Daria said. "Eh, can't have everything," Jane said as she turned toward the stairs. "Jane, where are you going?" Daria asked her. "I'm going to find Stripe," she said. "Shouldn't you wait until we have the surveillance system turned on?" Daria asked her.

"I should, but given how clever Stripe is, we need to act as quickly as possible. Besides," Jane said, remembering Stripe's attempts to kill her and Daria before at the mall and at the YMCA, "I have a score to settle with him." Daria glanced over at the controls before looking back at Jane.

"As soon as you have the speaker system and the cameras working, try to let me know if you can see Stripe. But keep an eye on your back, in case he finds his way up here," Jane said, handing her flashlight to Daria. "The battery is almost dead, but there should be enough juice in it to scare him away so that you can close the door on him if he _does_ manage to get up here," Jane said before she pulled her friend into a hug.

"Be careful, Jane," Daria said to Jane, slightly bewildered by the hug, as she pulled away and walked back over to the exit. "Don't worry, I intend to," Jane said with a grin as she made her way down the stairs. Daria set her backpack down and began looking for an instruction manual. Gizmo peeked out of the backpack and slowly began to unzip it.

Line Break

Stripe carefully peeked out from behind a shelf to see if either of the girls had managed to follow him. The lights were still off, but he could see hints of daylight beginning to break through the windows at the front of the store. He had to hurry if he was to find water or a place to hide.

He unwrapped a candy bar and took a bite out of it as he began to formulate a plan. He stopped chewing when he head footsteps coming from a department on the other side of the store. He glanced around the side of another shelf as he saw Jane in the distance, grabbing a baseball bat off of a rack. " _Jane_ ," Stripe growled quietly. He looked up at the stuffed animals on the shelf above him, before looking over to see Jane slowly approaching his position.

Line Break

Jane walked slowly past a shelf of plush toys and stuffed animals, her baseball bat at the ready, constantly looking from side to side and up and down as she scanned for Stripe. After passing by the plush shelf, she turned to her left, not noticing Stripe's head poking out from behind a stuffed bear and walrus.

Jane turned around as soon as she found the wall, catching a quick glimpse of white hair rushing behind a shelf. She began running forward. She heard the sound of a tricycle as she reached the end of the aisle and saw Stripe riding away, huffing and puffing as he tried to eat some candy while doing so. "Yumyumyumyum," she heard him muttering as he turned a corner.

"Get back here, Stripe!" Jane called angrily as she rounded the corner, hearing a crashing sound and finding Stripe's tricycle lying on its side. Her eyes darted back and forth as she looked for any sign of Stripe. She carefully backed up against a shelf, scanning for Stripe.

She turned her head as she heard footsteps to her right. She didn't see Stripe, but she could hear his breathing as she slowly moved forward. She had just reached the middle of the aisle when the breathing sound stopped. Jane cautiously looked around.

She began to back up again, when she felt a weight fall onto her and clawed hands reached around her throat. "Gaah!" she screamed as Stripe tried to choke her. She waved her bat around and dropped it before slamming her back against a shelf in a bid to force Stripe off of her.

Stripe held on tighter and Jane rolled forward and reached back to grab Stripe, shrieking when he bit one her hands. She grabbed him again and managed to pull him off before throwing him at another shelf, which he crashed into. Stripe fell to the ground and grabbed a boxed up toy truck, throwing it at Jane before scurrying away. Jane blocked the throw with her arm as she leaned against a shelf, trying to catch her breath. She looked around and grabbed her baseball bat before resuming her pursuit of Stripe.

Line Break

"Dammit, why doesn't anything here have a _label!?_ " Daria muttered under her breath as she accidentally opened shutters for the control room, which was overlooking a clothing department. "I hate my luck," Daria said angrily. _Okay, maybe if I try to think of everything in a categorized manner, I can make some sense out of these controls_ , Daria thought to herself as she grabbed ahold of the control panel in frustration.

She didn't notice Gizmo slowly making his way over to the stairs, quietly looking back over his shoulder at her. Gizmo's gaze hardened as he looked back down the stairs. Jane was going to need help if she wanted to come out of this situation alive, he realized. He turned back to look at Daria once more before he resumed his journey down the stairs.

Line Break

Jane slowly made her way back over to the sporting goods department, having followed Stripe's trail of candy wrappers and half eaten bars. The health-bars had been left completely intact, she'd noticed. Then again, she reasoned, the gremlins did display an appreciation for good taste when it came to food and entertainment.

The sporting goods department was right next to the power tools and electronic equipment, Jane noticed with a slight sense of unease. Stripe would have access to plenty of makeshift weapons, if his intelligence were any indication of his abilities. Jane looked down at a series of unwrapped health bars, which lead directly into the area with baseball equipment. It was an obvious trap, but it still showed that Stripe was cunning.

 _Little bastard thinks he's smart, does he? Well, I'm smarter_ , Jane thought as she silently crept forward, keeping her baseball bat ready. When she reached a corner that held some stereo equipment and boom-boxes on a shelf, Jane thought about turning around, when a baseball came flying at her. She was hit right in the left shoulder as she turned to face her attacker, only to see that Stripe was using an automatic pitching machine. "Aha!" he cackled as he shot more baseballs at her. Jane tried to block them with her bat, but two of them hit her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and she fell back against the wall.

Stripe fired again, hitting one of her kneecaps, and only let up the assault when the machine ran out of baseballs. He growled in displeasure before looking for something else to attack Jane with. Jane had finally managed to sit up when she saw a spinning metal blade flying straight at her. Her eyes widened in fear and she moved her head to the left just in time to avoid the saw blade as it embedded itself in the wall next to her.

"Die!" Jane heard Stripe rasp out at her as she saw him grab another blade. She reached over and grabbed a boom-box. Stripe threw the blade at her, his aim sure, only to growl in frustration as Jane blocked the attack with the boom-box. Jane mustered as much strength as she could to throw the boom-box at Stripe, who ducked and disappeared.

Jane tried to catch her breath before she heard a thwack sound. She looked to her left and saw an arrow sticking out of the wall next to her. She looked up at saw Stripe leaning over a rack of sports clothes while holding a hunting crossbow. Her eyes widened once more as she saw Stripe's lips curl in a snarl as he took aim at her.

 _Son of a **bitch!**_ Jane tried to maneuver her bat to defend herself, but Stripe had reloaded his crossbow and managed to fire an arrow straight into her left arm, just above her elbow. "Ah, _fuck!_ " she cried in pain. "Ha-ha!" Stripe cackled again. "Bye-bye… _Jane!_ " Stripe growled as he loaded another arrow into the crossbow, giving Jane enough time to grab a box and throw it at him, dislodging the arrow and sending Stripe falling to the floor. Jane kept her eyes open this time as she tried to catch her breath.

Line Break

"Come on, open already!" Daria grunted as she finally managed to pry open the power box in the control room. "Gotcha'," she said to herself as she began looking at the switches.

Line Break

Gizmo tore open the packaging from the box and began looking at the instructions and warning labels that came with it. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the diagrams showing how to use the remote control car. He looked at the remote control and the batteries that came with it, along with the batteries for the car.

He carefully flipped the car over to find the lid for the battery compartment. "Ah," he purred as he managed to rip the batteries from their packaging with a small screwdriver that had been included. He glanced up and looked around him as he heard the telltale sounds of Stripe's laughter at the other end of the store, along with Jane's curses and yells.

Gizmo resumed his task as the sounds of battle became quiet before increasing once again. Of all of his progeny, Stripe was the most dangerous, and the most intelligent. There was no doubt that Stripe would do anything possible to keep himself alive, including murder. Gizmo was far too fond of Daria and Jane to let Stripe kill them or hurt them any more than he already had.

Line Break

Jane tried to sit up after catching her breath. She closed her eyes for a few seconds…before she heard the roar of an engine. Her eyes shot open as she saw Stripe underneath the clothing rack, holding a chainsaw and sporting a vicious grin. His red eyes almost glowed as he looked at her.

"You gotta' be fucking _kidding me!_ " Jane exclaimed before Stripe bounded forward. He laughed maniacally as he raised the saw into the air and brought it down. Jane managed to grab her baseball bat by both ends and raised it up just in time to block the saw. Sawdust began to fly as Stripe pressed forward, sneering and cackling at Jane.

Jane held the bat up as far as she could without giving Stripe room to maneuver the saw. She began to feel panic well up inside of her as she noticed that the saw was cutting through the bat at a dangerous pace. _Come on, Daria! Turn on those lights; do something, Amiga!_

Jane pushed the bat back against Stripe's saw. She had to blink her eyes to keep the sawdust from getting in. She saw out of the corner of her eyes that Stripe's saw had a power cord attached to it. He could keep up his assault as long he pleased, while her bat would only last for another minute or two. _This is it… I'm going to die!_

Tears began rolling down Jane's face as she realized that Stripe had the upper hand. His facial expression became a mixture of psychotic and gleeful as he pressed forward before cackling at Jane once again. Neither of them noticed the lights turning on in various department sections.

Jane's bat was almost split in half when the lights came on in the sporting goods department, forcing Stripe to raise his saw and cover his eyes with one hand. "Raaargh!" he cried as he fell back onto the floor. The chainsaw began cutting into the floor and moving on its own path, pulling Stripe along with it, his body weight shifting enough to affect its path before the plug was pulled out of the wall socket.

Stripe shook his head to get rid of the dizziness caused by his little trip. He slowly got up and looked around. Over to his right was the gardening section, in its own greenhouse room with blinds and curtains and potted plants. In the center of it was an elaborate water fountain, which Stripe could see was turning on. "Glub-glub," he muttered before saying the true word.

" _Water_ ," he said as he turned around and looked over to his left, seeing a glass case holding a revolver and ammunition. "Gun!" he exclaimed before breaking the glass. Jane was going to find him soon, but when she did, he would be ready. He was going to put an end to those girls and their interference with his plans once and for all.

Line Break

Daria looked at the lights shining throughout the store. "I did it," she said quietly. "Gizmo, I… Gizmo?" Daria asked as she looked down and saw that her backpack was unzipped and Gizmo was nowhere to be found. Daria grabbed her backpack and cautiously walked over to the stairs, looking for Gizmo.

She scanned the ground looking for him as she noticed the overturned shelves and opened boxes strewn about the store. "Gizmo? Jane?" she whispered as she continued her search. She looked down and grabbed a yellow plastic baseball bat. She rolled her eyes at her own actions, but continued her search.

Daria looked over to see light coming in through one of the store windows. Morning had arrived. "A bit late to the party, though," Daria muttered as she kept walking.

Line Break

Jane slowly stood up as she made her way through the store, stopping only to lean on a shelf and catch her breath. _I am never getting another pet as long as I live_ , she thought as she carefully limped over to the rack of baseball bats and grabbed another one, this time settling for aluminum. She soon resumed her search for Stripe.

Line Break

Daria looked at the chainsaw on the floor as she slowly walked over to the gardening area, her view of the center blocked by two aisles of shelfs with plants and pottery. There were hanging baskets of plants as well, obscuring some of her vision. Daria walked over to stand just at the side of a shelf as she looked at the curtains of the room. [i]I could open those and prevent Stripe from getting in here,[/i] she thought.

She did notice the figure hanging onto one of the ledges of the layered water fountain. "Daria!" Stripe growled as he aimed his revolver at her. Daria quickly turned her head to see Stripe with the gun in his hand. He laughed before he fired a round at her as she ducked behind a table with pottery next to the shelf.

Stripe cackled again before firing another shot, destroying a potted plant bowl as Daria moved over. Daria reached over and grabbed a hand-sized rock before throwing it at Stripe. He maneuvered himself out of the way and the rock sailed past him. His lips curled into a snarl as he took aim again.

Line Break

Jane heard the gunshots and quickly began limping over to the gardening section. She stopped when she heard what sounded like a small whirring noise. She turned back just in time to see Gizmo driving a small toy car under her legs and towards the gardening department. "Gizmo?" Jane asked incredulously before she started to follow him.

Line Break

"Ha-ha!" Stripe laughed after unloading another round at Daria. He quickly took out the circular bullet chamber and replaced it with another one, quickly reloading his revolver before firing at the floor in an attempt to scare Daria into revealing herself for a better shot.

Daria tried to hold back a whimper as Stripe fired again, this time nicking her right knee as she huddled against the shelf, using the table to hide. Stripe heard the muffled sound of a sob and smiled. Now he had her injured. He fired at another potted plant on the table, revealing Daria's head. She looked at him, eyes wide with fear as she realized that she couldn't hide anymore.

"A-ha-ha-ha!" Stripe cackled as he took aim. He licked his lips as he prepared to fire. He was going to enjoy watching her brains splatter against the wall and floor. Stripe saw Jane running towards him out of the corner of his eyes. Even better, he realized, he could kill one of the girls in front the other to make them suffer before finishing off the remaining girl. This was going to be the best day of his life.

Stripe had inadvertently aimed his revolver at Jane, though, and had opened fire at the entrance of the gardening room. Jane managed to duck behind a wall. Stripe, hyped up on adrenaline, climbed up to the top of the fountain where the water was coming out and placed one of his fingers in the water. The water began to glow around his finger and his back began to pulse.

Small growths began to form along Stripes back as the process began. He hissed in slight pain, but tried to ignore it, using his revolver to keep the two girls at bay. When Daria moved, he opened fire at the ground near her.

"Bye-Bye… _Daria!_ " Stripe growled as he took aim at her head. _Game over. He has me dead to rights_ , Daria realized as Stripe smiled cruelly before placing his finger on the trigger of the revolver. Both girls were so focused on Stripe that neither one noticed the increasingly loud whirring sound as a small toy car drove toward them.

Gizmo tried his best to keep the car going straight, having gotten himself turned around twice already before getting back on track. He saw the curtains in the garden and Stripe on the fountain. His eyebrows furrowed as he drove forward, seeing a shovel leaning against a few blocks of concrete. Gizmo drove forward and rode up the makeshift ramp before flying into the air. He cried out in surprise as the car crashed into a cluster of potted plants.

Dari and Jane both looked over at Gizmo's crash site, as did Stripe. Gizmo quickly got up out of the toy car's wreckage and looked up at the blinds. "Bright light!" he chirped. The string to open them was just low enough for him to grab it.

" _Gizmo!_ " he heard Stripe growl as he turned to face his last surviving offspring. Stripe cackled at aimed his revolver at his new target. _Now_ today was his best day ever.

Gizmo squeaked in fear before turning around. "Bright light! Bright light!" he chirped as he quickly rushed toward the string. "Ha-ha-ha! Gizmo _caca!_ " Stripe hissed as he took aim an fired, hitting the wall where Gizmo had been just milliseconds beforehand. Gizmo had grabbed the string and tugged just hard enough for it to pull him upward. Gizmo hit the top of the curtain and fell back down into a mess of potted plants in the shade.

"Bye-Bye Giz-moooaaah!" Stripe screamed as the sunlight poured in from the open windows, landing directly on him. He dropped his revolver and tried to shield his eyes from the light. Jane rushed over to Daria's side and helped her up off the floor. The two girls watched in horror and fascination as Stripe's body began to decay and melt.

The skin and muscle tissue began to peel away and drip off of his bones, staring on his arm and face. His green blood began oozing into the fountain as his breathing became labored. All of his flesh began to drip and melt off of his body. His signature hair began to fall out as the tissue holding it together began dissolving.

Soon, Stripe was a skeleton with patches of flesh and organs that hung limply from the fountain, before finally dropping into the bottom basin of the fountain, where the water bubbled and churned for a minute with smoke and steam rising with flashes of color before dissipating. Daria gently grabbed Gizmo and held him before taking off her backpack to place him inside.

Jane slowly limped over to the bottom pool of bubbling water, watching for any signs of life, before Stripe's skeleton, imbued with the last bits of life, jumped out and tried to attack her.

Jane managed to step back as the remains of Stripe's skeleton began deflating on the floor, quickly turning into a pile of goo. "So, that's what happens," Jane said. "Daria, is Gizmo safe?" Jane asked her. "Yeah," Daria said, still somewhat overwhelmed by everything that had happened. "Come on, let's go home," Jane said tiredly as the two girls began limping out of the store.


	12. Farewell and End Credits

Chapter 12: Farewell and End Credits

* * *

Helen Morgendorffer sat on the sofa with her arms around Quinn, holding her sleeping daughter tight against her. "Aw, dammit, this stuff is gonna' be impossible to get out of the carpet," Jake whined as he sprayed the gremlin goo on the floor with a store-brand cleaning solution.

"Removes all stains my ass. This does _not_ remove all stains!" Jake complained. "Jake, Honey, could you just… never mind," Helen said tiredly. There still hadn't been any sign of Daria or Jane since they had gone after Stripe the night before, and almost everyone had seen the lights of the explosion earlier this morning.

Helen began to fear the worst. A small tear began streaming down her cheeks as she began to think of all the things that could've happened to Daria and Jane. Jake had taken to getting rid of the gremlin corpses as a way of distracting himself from the grim uncertainty of the girls' survival until the sunlight had made the corpses begin turning into puddles of goo.

Now he had taken to cleaning the mess left behind as a distraction. Helen sighed as she looked at her daughter. Quinn had stayed up all night helping Jake and Helen push back any gremlins that had tried to get into the house. When all of the gremlins had begun making their way into the center of town, everyone had been relieved, until they had heard and seen the explosion.

The entire suburb was a disaster zone. Telephone poles had been knocked over, stores had been looted and vandalized, and that was _after_ the gremlins had finished their rampage. A handful of people had committed suicide, fearing the gremlin incursion to be a sign of the end of times, and several more people had been killed during the chaos caused by the monsters. Every minute she was awake, Helen had hoped that Daria and Jane were not among the casualties.

Helen felt Quinn begin to stir in her arms. She gently combed her daughter's hair wither hands to give herself some sense of comfort. "Mm, is Daria home yet?" Quinn asked her. Helen paused before answering. "No, Quinn, not yet," she said, trying to keep from choking up.

Jake was about ready to blow a gasket when there was a knock on the door. Everyone looked at the door as the knock sounded again. Quinn got up and shakily walked over to open the door.

Quinn actually smiled when she saw who was standing in front of her. "Daria!" Quinn exclaimed as she embraced her sister in a hug. "Daria?" Helen and Jake both asked, hopeful and relieved. "Um, I'm alive too," Jane said. "Quinn, let them inside," Helen said.

As soon as Jane closed the front door behind her, she saw that Daria had sat down next to Helen on the sofa, hugging her. "Daria, what happened?" Helen asked her. "We…we got them. All of them," she said tiredly. "Stripe too?" Quinn asked her. Daria nodded her head. "Jake, get something for Daria and Jane to eat!" Helen ordered her husband.

"It's okay, Mrs. Morgendorffer, you don't need to feed me," Jane said, just before a loud growl erupted from her stomach. "That was clearly a car driving by," Jane said, embarrassed. It was then that Helen noticed the broken arrow in Jane's left arm and the cuts and bruises the girls were sporting.

"Oh my god, what _happened!?_ " Helen asked them both worriedly. "Can we talk _after_ we eat?" Daria asked Helen. "Sure, Sweetie, just… I'm just glad that you're both okay," Helen said in response before engulfing Daria in a hug. "Um, does anyone know what to do about my arm?" Jane asked. "Jane, what happened to your arm!?" Jake asked as he entered the living room. "It's a _long_ story," Jane said tiredly.

"It's okay," Helen said, "I don't think you girls will be having school today anyway. You can take as long as you need." "After breakfast?" Daria asked her. "After breakfast," Helen said.

Later on that evening, everyone was gathered around the living room, watching the news report on Lawndale's latest urban renewal effort. " _Explosions and riots rocked this suburb yesterday_ ," the reporter said as video clips of firetrucks and ambulances played against his narration. Gizmo was in Jane's bandaged arms, snuggling up against her while she ran her hands through his fur, gently petting him.

Quinn looked on from behind the sofa, smiling at Gizmo before returning her attention to the TV screen, where several people were being interviewed, including two people she recognized: Jodie Landon and Mack McKenzie.

" _We hid in the woods after that. It was the only place where those things **weren't**_ ," Jodie said into the microphone. She had a makeshift bandage over her left eye, while Mack had a scar on his cheek.

Quinn sighed before looking back down at Gizmo. "I'm sorry, Gizmo," Quinn whispered. "I'm sorry that I wasn't more careful." Gizmo looked up at her and nodded his head in understanding, apparently forgiving her. " _Thank you_ ," Quinn whispered with a relieved smile as Gizmo returned to snuggling against Jane.

Quinn was getting ready to head back into the kitchen when she heard the doorbell ring, causing everyone to turn their heads. "Who could that be?" Jake asked as Quinn walked over to the door.

She turned the handle and opened it to see an old man in a dark coat looking at her. Jake recognized him immediately as his back stiffened. "M-Mr. Wing!" Jake exclaimed worriedly. "Baba?" Gizmo chirped, turning his head to see the old man.

"Who?" Helen asked him. "Uh, Helen, this-this is the man who… _sold me_ the Mogwai," Jake said nervously. "Sold," Mr. Wing said as he walked into the living room, "An _interesting_ choice of words." Mr. Wing stepped over and looked down at Gizmo snuggling against Jane. He began speaking to Gizmo in an Asian dialect that no one in the room could recognize. "Baba," Gizmo said.

Mr. Wing looked up at the TV, preparing to chastise the Morgendorffers for teaching Gizmo to watch television, when he heard the news reporter describe the events of the previous night. " _As we've heard, most people are blaming the destruction on little green or gray monsters with large ears and long arms_ ," the reporter said disbelievingly.

Mr. Wing recognized the description that the man had provided. He raised his head sharply and turned to glare at Jake. "I _warned you_ ," he said angrily. "With Mogwai comes _much responsibility_ , but you didn't listen! And now you see what happens!" Wing exclaimed.

"I-I didn't mean for any of it to happen," Jake said sadly. "I just… wanted to make my daughters happy," he added quietly. Mr. Wing softened only slightly at hearing Jake's words, but the damage had been done. He could not leave Gizmo in the care of these people. It was just too dangerous… for everyone. He could see that Gizmo had become attached to them, but he would be able to convince the Mogwai that returning home was for the best.

He reached down and gently picked up Gizmo, scooping the Mogwai into his arms. "There was, I believe, a box," Mr. Wing said as he held Gizmo. "Dad?" Daria said through a strained voice.

"It… it's okay," Jake said. He knew what he had to do. "I'm… I'm sorry, Mr. Wing. I'm sorry for everything," Jake said as he grabbed the box from a corner by the stairs. "If there's anything I can do to make it up to you-" "Make it up!? To _me!?_ " Mr. Wing snapped as he placed Gizmo in his box.

" _I_ am not the one whose life was almost ended by carelessness! You should be apologizing to all of the people around you who have suffered! You have done with Mogwai what your society has done _with **all** of nature's gifts!_ " Mr. Wing practically roared at them.

"You are not ready," he finished quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear him as he walked toward the door. He was about to open it when he heard banging inside the box and heard Gizmo's voice calling to him. He leaned over and brought the box up to his ears. "Oh?" Wing asked the Mogwai inside. After a minute, he nodded his head and turned around.

"He has something to say…uh, to you… and you," he said, nodding to Jane and Daria. "And you as well," Wing added, nodding at Quinn, who joined Daria and Jane in walking over to the box as Gizmo lifted the lid. "You can understand what he says?" Jane asked Mr. Wing.

"To hear, one has only to listen," Wing said in a wise manner with a smile before the girls returned their attention to Gizmo. He rose up and sadly looked at his temporary family, sighing before delivering his parting words.

"Bye Daria," he said before turning to look at Jane and Quinn. "Bye Quinn. Bye Jane." He sighed once more before looking at all three of them. "Take… care," Gizmo said with a heavy heart before lowering himself back into the box, allowing Wing to lock the lid back into place.

Wing looked at the girls, feeling himself soften a bit, and noticing the bandages and covered wounds on Jane and Daria. His anger was directed mostly at Jake, rather than the girls. From the way that Gizmo had been interacting with Jane, it was clear who he had chosen to be his future caregivers in the event that Wing would pass into the next life. "Maybe, someday, you will be ready. Until then… Mogwai will be waiting," Wing said before he turned around and stepped out the door.

The three girls watched silently as Mr. Wing quietly strode down the street, occasionally nodding his head as he listened to Gizmo speaking from inside the box. Wing listened intently as Gizmo told him about his new name and his time with the Morgendorffers, not saying much in return, only listening.

"Goodbye… Gizmo," Quinn said quietly as a tear rolled down her cheek. "We'll see you again someday… I hope." Jane gave Quinn a reassuring pat on the shoulder as they watched the old man become smaller in the distance with the moonlight shining on him, along with the few standing streets lights.

Line Break

Well, that's the story.

So if your air conditioner goes on the fritz or your washing machine blows up, or your video recorder conks out…

Before you call the repairman, turn on all the lights, check all the closets and cupboards.

Look under all the beds, because you never can tell…

There just might be a gremlin in your house.

Cue End Credits. [Jerry Goldsmith's Gremlins Rag plays over this]

Cast…

Jake Morgendorffer as Jake Morgendorffer

Wing's grandson as himself

Keye Luke as Mr. Wing

Daria Morgendorffer as Daria Barksdale/Morgendorffer

Jane Lane as Jane Lane

Quinn Morgendorffer as Quinn Morgendorffer

Howie Mandell as Gizmo

Frank Welker as Stripe and other Gremlins

Jodie Landon as Jodie Landon

Michael James McKenzie as Michael "Mack" McKenzie

Hedorah the Smog Monster as Sandi Griffin

Stacey Rowe as Stacey Rowe

Tiffany Blum-Deckler as Tiffany Blum-Deckler

Harrison Ford as Mr. Deckard

Angela Li as Angela Li

Janet Barch as Janet Barch

Timothy O'Neil as Timothy O'Neil

Anthony DeMartino as Anthony DeMartino/voice of various Gremlins

Trent Lane as Trent Lane

A Pillow Full of Hemp as Jessie Moreno

Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer III as Upchuck/voice of various Gremlins

Andrea as Andrea Hecuba

Shaggy-looking guy as Shaggy

Cardboard Cutouts as Max and Nick

Axl as himself

KITT as car stolen by Gremlins

Claire Defoe as Claire Defoe (Deleted Scene)

Mrs. Bennett as Mrs. Bennett (Deleted Scene)

Defoe's fun-time toy as itself (Deleted Scene)

Brittany Taylor as Brittany Taylor

Kevin Thompson as Kevin Thompson

Sam Griffin as Sam Griffin

Chris Griffin as Chris Griffin

Chris Griffin as Slim-Jim Stand Operator

Meg Griffin as Girl Running in Street

Tom Griffin as Tom Griffin

Amy Barksdale as Amy Barksdale (Deleted Scene)

Waldo as Man Hiding in Picture

Roll of Toilet Paper as Roll of Toilet Paper

Kurt Russell as R.J. Macready

Keith David as Childs

Thomas Waits as Windows

Anguirus1955 as man run over repeatedly by Gremlin-driven car.

* * *

This Fan-Fiction is copyright 2015 and yada-yada-yadda. Gremlins is the property of Joe Dante and Warner Bros Studios. Daria and Beavis and Butthead are the property of Glenn Eichler, Mike Judge, and MTV. If you claim ownership for yourself, the FBI will hunt you down and force you to ride a giant piggy while homeless people sing folk tunes. The piggy is smelly.

This story was first posted on the Paper Pusher's Message Board.


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